BY SIMON EBEGBULEM & GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE, Benin
POLITICAL tension heightened in Edo State yesterday with the assassination of the Principal Private Secretary, PPS, to Governor Adams Oshiomhole and Deputy National Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde.

Oyerinde was murdered at his Second Ugbor residence, GRA Benin City at about 1:30 am yesterday by unknown gunmen.

Late Olaitan Oyerinde and Adams Oshiomhole

Last week, the governor’s convoy was involved in a serious autocrash while returning from a political rally in Afuze, along Warrake-Auchi road, Etsako West Local Government Council of the  state, leaving three journalists dead. The Governor later blamed the death of the journalists on his main political opponents who, he accused of stagemanaging the accident.

Oshiomhole who got the news about his former aide’s assasination while in Abuja, arrived Benin City yesterday at about 1pm, where he gave the police 14 days to unravel the killers, including those whom according to him, “plotted to kill themselves in an accident last week, else any thing can happen,” even as he wept profusely.

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka also deplored the killing of the former PPS to Oshiomhole, Mr Oyerinde in his home in Benin City, saying “the agents of darkness and retrogression will not triumph”.

In a text message to the Governor on his assassination, Soyinka said, “The hand of the assassin is clear as day. It reaches all the way back to the killing of (former Attorney General of the Federation, AGF) Bola Ige. Please convey my deepest condolences to his (Oyerinde’s) widow, children and colleagues.

“Tell Oshiomhole we all stand by him against the agents of darkness and retrogression. They shall not triumph.”
Oyerinde was alleged to be the governor’s think thank and central to his political and administrative process and had been with the governor since his days at the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.

Officials of Edo State government who confirmed the incident, believe that Oyerinde’s killing  was part of a series of attacks targeted at the governor who is standing for re-election on July 14.

However, reacting to assasination, the Oshiomhole Campaign Organisation, OCO, said it would  commence campaign for the re-election of their Principal irrespective of the killing of his PPS today.

Government officials in Edo, however, believe that the accident was masterminded by opposition politicians as part of an assasination plot targeted at the governor.

Oshiomhole’s spokesman, Mr Tony Iyare, said the Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion, had earlier escaped similar attacks in recent days.
Late Olaitan who held a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos was born in Ilorin, Kwara State.

He started trade unionism with the Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, before he became the Chairman of the Lagos branch of the Campaign for Democracy, CD. In 2001, he joined the NLC  and was the Deputy General Secretary before taking a leave of absence to work with Oshiomhole.

Meanwhile, the Director General of the OCO, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, at a news conference at the Aguobasimwin campaign office in Benin however, said that Oyerinde’s killing “gives us reasonable cause for concern.

“Against the backdrop of the fact that it is happening on the heels of an orchestrated fatal auto crash involving the governor only a week ago.

“We are further informed that our political adversaries plan to orchestrate road accidents and kidnapping of prominent ACN leaders.”

Ize-Iyamu also alleged that the organisation was also aware that “they have also planned to plant bombs in strategic locations, especially campaign grounds just to occasion mayhem.
“When you juxtapose these events, we are not in doubt that all this is all about politics of do-or-die and an atavistic attempt to capture power by crude and foul means.

“We call on the Commissioner of Police to take prompt and decisive action with a view to smashing this dastardly political killer squad”.

He added that “politically motivated assassination as a vehicle for attaining political power has never been part of Edo state political culture.

“And this is the time for law enforcement agents all well meaning people and of Edo to rise with one voice and tell the political desperadoes to put their murderous and assasination genie back in the bottle,” he said.

Ize-Iyamu said members of the organisation would stage a peaceful protest to the office of the Edo police commissioner to register their condemnation of the incidents of the past few weeks.

He said that the commencement of the campaign would still hold as planned at the museum ground Kingsquare today.

“We hereby call on our teeming supporters, loyalists and the good affectionate people of Edo to turn out massively at the Benin Museum as the Comrade governor kick starts his campaign geared toward taking Edo to the next level”.
He, however, urged members to be peaceful and resist the urge to become violent in the face of provocation.

How Oyerinde was killed: Saturday Vanguard gathered that the four suspected assassins stormed his residence at about 1:30am. They were said to have jumped the fence and three of them gained entrance to his living room through the front door. The protector leading to his parlor was however not locked when they gained entrance.
On recognizing that it was Oyerinde’s brother-in-law who was actually sleeping on the bed, they immediately left him and went for the wife, Funke, asking her to lead them to the husband who, unknown to them, was sleeping in the living room.On sighting him, they instantly fired four shots, one on the head, chest, abdomen and hip, killing Oyerinde instantly. The gunmen later fled after they carted away his phones and that of his wife’s laptop and car keys.
Saturday Vanguard observed a pool of blood in his bedroom and the foot steps of the suspected assassins by the fence. A crack team of detectives from the homicide section of the State Police Command had however taken over the compound as at the time of filing this report.

The night guard, Ali Alhadi narrated the incident to newsmen: “I came out to urinate and two people held me and pointed gun at me. They collected my wife’s head-ties and tied my hands behind. They jumped the fence and entered the house. The protector of the house was not locked. I used to lock it but after Oga changed the keys ,he started locking it himself.
“Before they entered the house, they were asking me for money but I said I did not have money. Three of them entered the house while one was outside and it was the one outside that went to his window and shot him three times. After that they left”.

Edo Youths react to killing: There was outrage over the killing as thousands of youths carrying mock coffin wrapped with the flag of an opposition political party took over the major streets in Benin City, calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to set up a high powered panel to investigate the killing.
The youths led by Mr. Tony Kabaka- Adun, also carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Political Killings Cannot Stop Development,” “Enough is Enough,” “If killing No Stop, Yawah Go Dey” to express their outrage over the killing which came on the heels of the recent death of three journalists in the convoy of the state governor.

Speaking with news men at the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Press Centre,  Kabaka- Adun said, “Edo youths are not happy with what is happening in the state. In the past, elections were conducted into the National and State Houses of Assembly, there were no killings and we thought that the era of one man, one vote has come to stay. They are killing to frustrate Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Those people who want to achieve their aims of destabilizing the state are using killings to achieve their objectives.
“We have seen the good things that the Oshiomhole administration is doing and nobody knew that there was money in this state until Governor Oshiomhole came. They tried to kill him with a tipper last week, they did not succeed”.

The youth leader then warned that they would not fold their arms and allow innocent people to be slaughtered like animals, adding that  if the killings in the state did not stop, “We will burn their houses and send them away from the state.”
Governor Oshiomhole weeps:

Oshiomhole however, wept profusely as the protesters trekked from the Benin Airport to the Central Hospital mortuary where Olaitan’s body was deposited before heading to the Government House. Governor Oshiomhole later urged the protesters to be law abiding and allow the police to carry out their investigations over the matter, saying that he had recently petitioned the Edo State Police Command informing the police about a meeting that was held at the residence of a national leader of an oppostion party where according to him, “they said they knew they were going to lose the election but they will cause mayhem by assassinating ACN leaders especially, those close to me and even kidnap some persons.

“All they want to do is to intimidate us so that we can not campaign. But

tomorrow (today) we are going ahead with the campaign here in Benin City. But we are giving the police 14 days to produce the killers and also those who planned the accident of last week where three of our brothers lost their lives. We will not be intimidated. We must go on with the campaigns.

“I have been saying this for long that they have a list where the names of some persons were penciled down for elimination. They have been threatening my people, ACN leaders, Commissioners and anybody they feel is close to me. This murder must not be swept under the carpet. They feel they cannot win election so they have resorted to killing. I want to appeal to our people to be calm and law abiding. We must allow the police and other security agencies to do their job” he cautioned.
Also addressing the youths, the Director General of OCO and the South South Vice-Chairman of the ACN, Pastor Ize-Iyamu said, “You will also recall that the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Louis Odion had alerted the world about the threat that he received from no less a person than the national Leader from the opposition party that he was going to be dealt with. Only last week, and in the early hours of the morning, gunmen stormed his house demanding to know his whereabouts. We thank God; he was not at home that night.
“We are further informed that our political adversaries plan to orchestrate road accidents, and kidnapping of prominent ACN leaders. They have also planned to plant bombs in strategic locations especially campaign grounds just to occasion mayhem.
“When you juxtapose these events, we are not in doubt at all that this is all about politics of do-or-die and an attempt to capture power by crude and foul means. We call on the Commissioner of Police to take prompt and decisive action with a view to smashing this dastardly political killer squad. Politically motivated assassinations as a vehicle for attaining political power has never been part of Edo State’s political culture and this is the time for law enforcement agents and all well meaning people of Edo State to rise with one voice and tell the political desperadoes to forget about their murderous and assassination plans as they will not work.

“The purpose of all these is very clear. The first attempt on the Governor’s life was an orchestrated autocrash aimed at his jugular and that attempt having woefully failed; this latest attack on the sanctity of human life is aimed at instilling fear on our party leadership and followership with a view to destabilizing our campaign efforts.
“We must let them know that they have failed in their Machiavellian machinations. Our strength and determination to prosecute our campaign to a logical conclusion will not be dampened. We are more than ever before committed to the demystification of political godfatherism in Edo state. We acknowledge that life and death are in the hands of God and those who think they can play God by taking human lives or sponsoring same will sooner realize that no man is God.
“We sympathize with the family of our bereaved colleague, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde who has been a disciplined and loyal party man. We also sympathize with the people and Government of Edo state who he served loyally before his gruesome murder. Our hearts also go to the Comrade Governor (Oshiomhole) himself, who is the prime target of this destabilization plot.

“We urge him to be undeterred in his noble efforts in transforming Edo State and retrieving same from the murderous cabal.
We hereby call on our teaming supporters, loyalists and the good and affectionate people of Edo State to turn out massively at the Benin Museum ground by 10 am tomorrow, as the Comrade Oshiomhole  kick -starts his campaign geared towards taking Edo state to the next level” he stated.