Rage in Benin over activist’s murder • Anger, protests, as deceased’s friends point fingers at lawmaker • I’ve no hand in his death, says legislator Over the years, the Nigerian Police and other security agencies have had the challenge of having to unravel those behind a long list of cases of assassinations across the length and breadth of the country. And if you ask many Nigerians, they will assert that many of such cases are yet to be sufficiently addressed. Indeed, across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Teritory, not a few are the assassination cases that have been left unresolved till date. Well, the long list of unresolved assassination cases has been lengthened by the killing of a youth, Comrade Daniel Aifegha, 37, in Edo State. Aifegha was, until his death, an active member of the Edo State civil society organisations. He was a graduate of Urban and Regional Planning from the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State. Until he was mowed down in his prime, he was on the staff of the Owan West Local Government area of the state and the Secretary of the local government area chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria. Aifegha was reportedly shot and killed by yet to be identified gunmen in his residence in Eme-Ora, Owan West Local Government area of Edo State. The incident occurred at about 9pm on July 29. His death sparked outrage and protests by hundreds of youths clad in black attire. The young men and women marched through the streets of Benin, the state capital, recently, on a day observed worldwide as World Youth Day. They took their protests to the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Foluso Adebanjo at the State Police Command, the Director of Department of State Security (DSS), Alhaji Tukur Bakori at the Edo State DSS Office, and the Chairman of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Desmond Agbama at the NUJ Secretariat. With placards of different inscriptions, the angry protesters accused a serving lawmaker in the Edo State House of Assembly of sponsoring the murder of Aifegha. The protesters, including the mother and daughter of the deceased, alleged that an aide to the lawmaker shot Aifegha after earlier threatening to kill the civil society activist for opposing the planned re-election bid of his boss. They called on the security agencies to quickly fish out those responsible for the killing in order to avert possible reprisals. They further alleged that before his death, Aifegha had confided in the leadership of the Kukuruku Youth Renaissance Network, a pressure group that he coordinated in Owan West Local Government area, that his life was being threatened by some politicians because he decided to withdraw his support from the re-election aspiration of the lawmaker representing the constituency, Hon. Michael Ohio-Ezomo for another aspirant, Hon. Victor Ojo Aisien. The protesters later handed a communiqué signed on behalf of Edo State Civil Society Organisations by its coordinator, Comrade Anthony Kaduna Eboigbodin, a former Chairman of Edo State NLC, and its Director of Media and Publicity, Marxist Kola Edokpayi to the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS. “The Council, which enjoys the mandate of 50 affiliate organisations, calls on the Commissioner of Police, Director of State Security Service and other stakeholders in the security network of Edo State to, as a matter of urgent public importance, discreetly investigate, identify and prosecute the killers of Comrade Daniel Aifegha. “The Council thereafter invites the security networks in Edo State to find useful, the narration of Comrade Daniel Aifegha’s friends, relatives and political associates who have courageously and continuously asserted that there were incessant threats to the deceased’s life through his telephone number and social media address by one Mr. Anselm Uduehi, who is the personal assistant to Hon. Michael Ohio-Ezomo, the member representing Owan East Constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly,” the communiqué said. In his remark, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Foluso Adebanjo, who addressed the protesters at the Command gate, promised to summon to his office, the Divisional Police Officer of Sabongida Ora whom the youths accused of compromise and get to the root of the murder. In the same vein, the DSS State Director, Alhaji Bakori also promised to ensure justice in the matter. But Hon. Mike Ohio-Ezomo, in a press statement signed by Hon. Omoghai Moses on behalf of his campaign organization, described the allegation as “frivolous”. “Let it be made clear that Hon. Mike Ohio Ezomo and Anselm Uduehi are not in any way connected with the murder of Mr. Daniel Aifegha. It is on record that all the first four persons who made immediate contact with the deceased after he was shot made useful statement to the police. “There was nowhere in all the statements where the deceased pointed fingers at Hon. Mike Ohio Ezomo and Mr. Anselm Uduehi as those responsible for his shooting before he died. It is therefore important to clear this fact and let the public know of the true position, as some misguided and desperate politicians have now cashed in on the murder of the said Mr. Daniel Aifegha to smear the name of our House of Assembly representative,” the statement said in part. Even as the civil society members and the lawmaker continue to disagree on the latter’s purported involvement in the case, the general public awaits the outcome of police investigation. Many have asserted that success for the police in the case would go a long way in giving the police a new image, as far as resolving assassination cases are concerned.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 07:53:29 +0000