Funsho Williams:How Obanikoro was arrested
•Ogunlewe’s henchman Oyenuga nabbed
•We lack faith in Scotland Yard –Afenifere
•Ex-Min to IG: Keep me in cell till...
By CHRISTIAN ITA, JOE OMOKARO and SEGUN AJIBOYE
Sunday, July 30, 2006

•Obanikoro Photo: Sun News Publishing

National Index

As police investigations into the murder Thursday of Engineer Funsho Williams gathers momentum, another Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos State, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro was Saturday arrested.

Unconfirmed report last night said he had been released on “personal recognition as a senator.”

Also picked up yesterday is former Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Marshal now an aide to former Works Minister, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Yomi Oyenuga.
Obanokoro’s arrest is coming barely 24 hours after the arrest of Ogunlewe.

The two politicians are being detained at the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos. Ogunlewe was initially kept at Panti.
A police source informed Sunday Sun that the arrest of the two gubernatorial aspirants follows a directive from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) that all the PDP gubernatorial aspirants in the state should be apprehended.

As the arrest of Obanikoro was being effected, a three-man detective team from the London Metropolitan Police, swung into action, combing the residence of the late PDP gubernatorial aspirant for clues that could lead to the arrest of the assassins.

Led by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 2, Lagos, Adedayo Adeoye, the expatriate detectives arrived the residence of the deceased at about 1.15 pm and left at exactly 3.18 pm.
Sunday Sun reliably gathered that Ogunlewe has told the police authorities that he is willing to be kept in police cell for as long as it would take them to make a breakthrough in investigations of the murder of Engineer Funsho Williams.

According to impeccable sources, the former minister expressed his willingness to remain in detention if that would aid police to quickly unmask the killers.
Police sources also informed Sunday Sun that a knife believed to be the murder weapon had been found in a sofa in the deceased living room at his Dolphin Estate residence.

Also in police net are the deceased’s campaign director and four police details that were on duty when the gruesome murder was perpetrated.
The police believe Ogunlewe could assist them with useful information that could lead to the cracking of the case.

Ogunlewe humiliated
Ogunlewe was reportedly humiliated as he was made to lie on the floor of the cell without footwear and his cap.
“How time changes. I saw him right there in the cell, lying down like a common criminal,” a police source said.
He was later brought into the conference room around 1:00pm Friday for lunch.
Looking unperturbed, the former minister was said to have devoured a plate of rice brought to him by members of his family.

Only on Sunday, Ogunlewe’s supporters clashed with the supporters of the deceased who was also a PDP governorship aspirant in Ikorodu.
Williams’ decision to locate his campaign office in Ikorodu, Ogunlewe’s homestead, was reported to be the cause of the fracas.

But an aide to the former minister insisted on his innocence, even as he claimed his boss voluntarily submitted himself to the police.
The aide who would not want to be mentioned, said the Ogunlewe group is hopeful that “the truth will soon emerge.”

Lack of faith in Scotland Yard
Meanwhile, Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization has given indications that it would formaly write President Olusegun Obasanjo to protest the gruesome murder of Williams.
Speaking during a condolence visit to the deceased family yesterday, the organisation’s deputy leader in Lagos State, Chief Supo Shonibare who was the in company of such leaders of the body as Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu said Afenifere would certainly write the President.

According to Shonibare, “Afenifere will as always write the President and tell him that the spate of insecurity in the country is such that drastic steps have to be taken.”
The Afenifere leader dampened enthausiasms that the Metropolitan Police would be able to unmask those behind the killing.

He said because the London Police lacks the local information about events in the country, there is little it can accomplish in this regard.

His words: “It is not enough to start calling the British Police. What is the British Police going to do? Do they have the local information about events in Nigeria?”
On his part, Adebanjo described the murder of Williams as one too many and wondered why the killings are always happening in the PDP.
“It is happening too much in the PDP. The people in PDP are violent people. We have been disagreeing with ourselves but we do not do this type of thing. They did it in Rivers, did in the North. Everywhere they have disagreed among themselves, they kill, why?”

Oyenugu’s arrest
Oyenuga, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, was picked up in the early hours of yesterday by a team of anti-robbery squad detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

Sunday Sun gathered that the detectives led by Mr. Solomon Tolofari, stormed Oyenuga’s residence in the Adekunle area of Lagos at about 9.50 am and took him away at about 10.05am to Panti.
He was later taken to the homicide section of Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), annex on Alagbon close, Ikoyi, Lagos at about 11.30am.
As at 6pm, his statements were yet to be obtained by homicide detectives. He was clad in a blue v-neck t-shirt on black trousers.

Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of FCID, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo Saturday morning met with the three London police detectives and the CP in charge of Interpol, Mr. Onashile and others at his Alagbon close office.

Onovo told Sunday Sun in Alagbon weekend that “there will be more arrests” but failed to give details on those arrested so far and those likely to be arrested.
However, Sunday Sun gathered that all PDP gubernatorial aspirants are to be arrested and detained until investigations are concluded.

Meanwhile, at the 184 Corporation Avenue, Dolphin Estate residence of the deceased, a female gubernatorial aspirant of the PDP, Bosede Osinowo, was Friday assaulted by irate female sympathizers.
The lady, who is the only PDP governorship aspirant to pay a condolence visit on the deceased family, was booed and pelted with water as she made her way from the house to her car.

She had to be rescued by some sympathizers who rushed her to the waiting car.
Others who paid condolence visits to the bereaved family yesterday included Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Admiral Mike Akhigbe, Major General Adeyinka Adebayo, Chief Kenny Martins and Dr. Walter Ofonagoro among others.

PDP sources informed Sunday Sun that the late Williams had the night he was murdered, concluded plans to take his campaign on Friday train to Eti-Osa Local Government Area.
Pointing at some women wearing a particular Ankara, the source said: “That is the Ankara we bought for the rally. My own is even still with the tailor. His murder is shocking.”