THE Chief Whip of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr Olafisoye Akinmoyede, has denied having anything to do with the death of slain member of the House of Representatives, Mr Temitope Olatoye Sugar, who was assassinated during the March 9 gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections at Lalupon village in Lagelu Local Government Area of the State.
Akinmoyede in a statement signed by his media assistant, Mr Segun Olawale, denied knowledge of the incident, adding that he is in no way connected to the heinous crime.
The lawmaker, who contested to represent Lagelu State Constituency in the State Assembly for the second time on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, has been detained at the State Criminal Investigations Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, in connection to the incident.
According to his statement, he has no knowledge of what happened to Hon Olatoye Sugar, adding that “although both of us are from rival political parties, Sugar was my friend, brother and longtime political ally. We were together in APC for a very long time before he defected to the African Democratic Party (ADP) under whose platform he contested for the Oyo South Senatorial election.
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“I am a man of peace and this can be attested to by my political associates, my colleagues in the House of Assembly and indeed, the people of my constituency. The fact that Sugar and I are not from the same political party does not mean that we should be at each other’s throats.
“Incidentally, we were not contesting for the same political office. While he contested for the Oyo South Senatorial seat, I contested for the Lagelu State Constituency for the second term,” he stated.
Akinmoyede further explained that when he received a call from the headquarters of the State Police Command at Eleyele, Ibadan that his attention was needed in connection with Sugar’s death, he honoured the invitation and voluntarily walked into the police command since he knew that he was innocent and wasn’t involved in any crime.
He said that the unfortunate killing of Olatoye did not happen at his polling unit, Ward 7, Isale Osun, where he had earlier cast his vote and that there was no crisis whatsoever while the voting lasted until the arrival of the federal lawmaker in Lalupon town from his Alape Village with his “boys” which resulted in the electorate scampering for safety.
According to him, it was not long after that he heard that gunshots were being exchanged between Olatoye’s “boys” and some people at the Lalupon motor park which eventually culminated in his being shot.
“I am therefore surprised by the reports in a section of the media to the effect that I was arrested by the police. I must state emphatically that I was never arrested. I reported myself to them voluntarily upon receiving their call,” the lawmaker said.
Akinmoyede, a former Chairman of Lagelu Local Government, called on the police to intensify their efforts and do thorough investigations with a view to finding the killer(s) of Olatoye.
