Family renews justice demand for slain Ogun finance director

Two years after suspected armed robbers shot a finance director with the Ogun State Government, Taiwo Oyekanmi, dead on the Kuto Bridge in Abeokuta, his family is demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

The family said doing so would help heal the deep wounds and address the vacuum created by his death.

Speaking on behalf of the family in a statement made available to PUNCH Metro on Thursday, the deceased’s brother, Lanre Oyekanmi, stated that they had continued to live in fear, knowing that the perpetrators were still roaming the streets without being held accountable for their crime.

He noted that while some of the promises made by the government had been fulfilled, the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators remained just as important to the family as those already fulfilled.

Oyekanmi said, “The government has fulfilled almost all the promises made to the immediate family, particularly in the areas of education for his three children and payment of the deceased’s emoluments. We sincerely appreciate the governor for this.

“The only promise yet unfulfilled is the arrest and prosecution of those who killed our late brother. The family needs closure. The governor promised to leave no stone unturned to bring the perpetrators to book, but thus far, it seems the government has moved on — but not so for the family.”

He urged the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

“The Commissioner of Police in Ogun State, when the incident took place, Abiodun Alamutu, who is now retired, stated at his valedictory speech last year that his greatest regret as Ogun CP was his inability to crack that particular crime and bring those involved to justice. Now, we have a new police commissioner — should we say a crime file of that magnitude has been closed because a commissioner has retired?

“The family deserves to know. But as long as the perpetrators are still out there, no one is safe. It is our family that is currently at the receiving end; who knows who is next?

“This is why criminals should be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the land. We are appealing that these criminals be brought to justice,” Oyekanmi stated.

When contacted on Thursday, Ogunlowo noted that the case was still open and that the police were still investigating the matter.

“The case has not been closed; it is an open case, and we are still investigating it,” Ogunlowo said in a telephone conversation with our correspondent.

PUNCH Metro reports that some armed robbers had, on November 30, 2023, attacked Oyekanmi while he was returning from the bank in a bullion van with cash for the state.

The bullion van conveying the sum of N112.335m was reportedly accosted on the Kuto flyover by the robbers and broken into with a sledgehammer brought out of their Toyota vehicle.

The attackers were said to have shot Oyekanmi in the thigh, leading to his death.

The then Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu, had confirmed that the bullion van was without a police escort at the time of the incident.

He had noted that the robbery and murder were premeditated, wondering how the armed robbers were already fully armed with a sledgehammer to break into the bullion van.

According to him, the gunmen must have been well-informed by an insider that the deceased was heading for the bank to make withdrawals.