The Adafin family of Owo, in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Adamu Mohammed and the Federal Government over the killing of a member of the family, Banji Adafin, by some suspected hired killers.
The family who called for proper investigation into the matter alleged that a confessional statement by one of the suspected hoodlums was swept under the carpet, urging the police authorities to reopen investigation into the matter.
The family in the petition which was signed by a member of the family, Olasoji Adafin, and addressed to the Permanent Secretary, Special Services Office, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Abuja, alleged the wife of the deceased, Abimbola Adafin of masterminding the killing of her husband.
According to the family, one of the convicts made a confessional statement indicting the wife of the deceased in the killing but said the security agents never arrested nor interrogated the woman over the incident.
The petition read in part, “the reason for writing this letter is the nagging issue of a confessional statement made by one of the convicts, Jimoh Sodiq, which is weighty and needs to be thorough and properly investigated.
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“In other to secure a custodial order after the arrest of the said Jimoh Sodiq and other defendants, the defendants were brought to the Chief Magistrate Court, Akure. In the open court and to the hearing of everybody present in the court, including Abimbola Adafin, the aforementioned Jimoh Sodiq was shouting and complaining bitterly that he and other defendants were bearing the brunt while the person that sent them was free and moving around without any molestation.
“As law-abiding citizens who believe in the sanctity of the law, the family members promptly alerted the security agencies of this development. The said Jimoh Sodiq subsequently made a confessional statement that is now with the Nigeria Police, Ondo State Command, where he gave detailed and damning allegations against Mrs Adafin as the one that sent them to assassinate her husband.
“Apprehensive of this new development, Mrs Adafin rushed to the Ondo State High Court to file a suit to protect her fundamental human rights and stop the security agencies from investigating these serious and weighty allegations.”
The Adafin family, however, appealed to the Inspector General of Police and the Federal Government to order a proper investigation into the matter, in the interest of justice, equity and good conscience.
Adafin, a United States of America-based businessman, was killed by an eight-man gang of armed robbers at Oloko area of Akure, the Ondo State capital on July 2017.
However, seven of the suspected hoodlums involved in the killing were arrested, prosecuted and found guilty, and sentenced to death while one of the accused bagged a year imprisonment by the Ondo State High Court on August 2018.
The convicts included Jimoh Sodiq, Blessing Ogunlade, Yomi Balogun, Akeem Adedayo, Oso John, Ade Omoniyi, Sodiq Babatunde and Damilola Samuel,
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