Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has called for police protection for the Chief Executive Officer of the Development Policy Centre (DPC), Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof. Bimpe Aboyade, against untimely and violent death.
Falana, in a petition to the police on behalf of Aboyade, also urged the police to charge the suspects in the alleged attempted murder to court without further delay.
Aboyade, a retired university teacher, had raised the alarm over attempt made on her life by some suspected assassins, who were said to be acting on the instructions of one Mr. Taiwo and Mr. Kolawole Carew.
According her, at about 12:30p.m. on September 17, a hired thug named Jaiyeoba armed with dangerous weapons, climbed over the wall of the DPC building and was immediately accosted and overpowered by a security man in the premises with the assistance of a visiting friend.
“As soon as the said Jaiyeoba managed to escape, he ran to the main office of the centre, damaged the entrance door and attacked the Administrative Assistant, while the thug was shouting that he had been sent to kill our client.
“Our client, who had run out of the office, was pursued by the said Jaiyeoba until he caught up with her across the road and in front of the house of Pastor Olubi Johnson, where several policemen had already gathered.
“As the said Jaiyeoba was about putting his knife on our client’s neck, a policeman pulled her away from the grip of the assassin, while he was shouting that he be allowed to kill “iya” on the instructions of Mr. Taiwo and Mr. Kolawole Carew,” Aboyade alleged.
She alleged that in spite of the presence of policemen at the scene of the incident where the said Jaiyeoba grabbed her, they did nothing to calm the situation even when it was obvious that the suspect was already soaked with his blood due to the injuries he sustained from the encounter he had with the security man and his friend.
“The policemen, who were present at the scene saw that his shirt was soaked with his blood. At that juncture, Mr. Taiwo and Mr. Kolawole Carew, who the said Jaiyeoba claimed had sent him suddenly appeared at the scene and started the video recording of the said Jaiyeoba.
“Although there were more than 10 policemen from the Agodi Police Station at the scene, they did not arrest or question the said Jaiyeoba for reasons best known to them. As if that was not enough, the two members of staff of the centre who had been injured by Jaiyeoba were arrested by the police and clamped into detention at the Agodi Police Station.”
Aboyade said she was invited by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police at Iyaganku to make a statement on the matter, but to her surprised, having reported to the station in the morning, she was delayed all day without making a statement and was later ordered to be detained in a cell full of hardened criminal suspects.
“When our client demanded to know the basis of the decision to detain her she was rough handled by two police women in their bid to force her into the cell.
“In the process our client fell down. In spite of her condition the two police women aided by a woman police officer dragged our client on the bare floor. Our client suffered a momentary heart attack which led her to request for her doctor but her request was turned down by the police.
“After about one hour of her lying prostrate on a wet floor our client was asked to sign a paper in which she and the two detained staff of the Centre were charged with attempted murder!
“By a twist of irony the said Jaiyeoba and Messrs. Taiwo and Carew were made the complainants while our client and the other victims of the unprovoked attacks became the criminal suspects.
“However, the investigation of the complaint was commenced by the police on September 21, 2013 when our client and the two staff of the centre had already been charged with attempted murder the previous day.”
Aboyade said Jaiyeoba had on several occasions since May 2013 visited the centre with dangerous weapons, before the attempted murder.
She said such acts of trespass and intimidation of Jaiyeoba were reported to the Area Commanders at Agodi and Ikolaba Police stations but he was always immediately set free by the police, only to re-appear at the centre.
Official SirVic 