By ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

IKEJA – Lagos State Council of the National Union of Journalists, NUJ, said it was making efforts to ensure that the police revisited the case of the murdered The Guardian’s Assistant News Editor, Bayo Ohu, and ensure that those culpable were charged to court.

This came as the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mrs. Olabisi Ogungbesan, said the state will study the case file and take a decision on whether to appeal the ruling of Justice Lateefa Okunnu, who discharged those accused of killing the journalist.

Justice  Okunnu had discharged the three persons, Dada Yemi Adesanya, Ganiu Sulemon and Idris Balogun charged for conspiracy and murder of Ohu on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Ruling on a no-case submission by the defence lawyer,  Justice Okunnu held that no evidence was placed before the court to show that the defendants were at the scene of the alleged crime.

The court had observed that none of the police officers listed before the court as witnesses came to testify, adding “they abandoned the case and did not turn up.”

The court also held that there was no correlation between the evidence of Mr. Kashi Taiwo (PW1) and Mr. Bode Adetola, (PW2) that the defendants were the persons  who killed Ohu.

Reacting to the ruling, Lagos State NUJ Chairman, Mr. Deji Elumoye, said: “We were surprised and disappointed by the judgment of the court. Though, with the judge’s position, we cannot blame the court, the police did shoddy investigation; they did not do a a thorough job. We have instructed our lawyers to work with the necessary government agencies to look through the case again.

“We will soon do a formal letter to that effect and ask for the review of the case. We will also get across to the state Commissioner of Police for a renewed investigation so that the court can retry the case.”