Oyo lawmaker’s death not politically motivated —CP •As police parade suspected killers

Four suspects arrested in connection with the killing of a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, late Gideon Aremu, were paraded at the police headquarters in Ibadan, with one of them, Adedeji Ayobami, confessing that he was one of the four-man gang who carried out the act.

The three other suspects, Oladapo Adeniran (31), Kareem Isiaka a.k.a. Afaa (43) and Adedeji Sodiq (20) were said to have been involved in the purchase and resale of the phone stolen from the deceased.

It will be recalled that Honourable Aremu, representing Oorelope Constituency at the state assembly, was murdered by unidentified gunmen on July 1 at Adegbayi area of Ibadan while he was about to enter his compound.

Speaking with journalists during the parade, the outgoing Commissioner of Police, Mr Leye Oyebade, said the arrest of the suspects had dispelled the insinuation that his death was politically motivated, adding that one of the major participants in the killing, Ayobami, had confessed that his gang was on robbery operation.

Oyebade disclosed that the breakthrough of the command on the case was made possible by the combined efforts of crack detectives from the command and the Special Response team of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.

He stated further that the confessional statement of Adeniran, after he was arrested with the late honourable’s phone, led to the arrest of other suspects.

Oyebade said that Adeniran was discovered to have bought the phone a day after the honourable’s killing, adding that the suspect could not claim ignorance that the source of the phone was suspicious, as it was his third purchase from Afaa.

The police commissioner also added that Afaa jumped from a three-storey building naked and ran away to escape arrest but was eventually caught, saying that he had been arrested and paraded before over a criminal offence.

In his confession to the Nigerian Tribune during an interview, Ayobami admitted his involvement in the operation that led to the death of Honourable Gideon Aremu but said it was mere robbery as nobody sent his gang after the victim.

“We just went for robbery and he was unfortunate to be our victim. We saw him in his car and we stopped him. We were four in number that went for the operation. They were Abbey, Yusuff, Kola and me. We left a hemp joint at Beere area for robbery operation. All we wanted was money from him. We stopped him when he wanted to enter his compound.

“It was Abbey who brought the job and the gun we used was held by him. He was the one who shot the man. Abbey also lived at Adegbayi area where the deceased also lived. I don’t know whether Abbey killed him because he knew him. I don’t know how much we got from him but I was given N40,000 and one handset,” Ayobami said.

He confessed to being an ex-prison inmate, saying that his offence then was hemp sale. “I spent a year awaiting trial but was released by the Chief Judge of Oyo State on pardon in 2015,” Ayobami disclosed further.

He said that he did not know the residence of his gang members as they always meet at hemp joint.

Sodiq, who said he bought the phone from two of the gang members, Kola and Yusuff, revealed that he paid N12,500 but gave it to Afaa when he could not unlock it, adding that Afaa resold it for N16,000.