On Wednesday, robbers killed the Director of Finance attached to the Ogun State Governor’s Office, Mr Taiwo Oyekanmi, while he was on official duty.
The deceased was said to have left a commercial bank located along the Omida-Ibara axis of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, where he had gone to pick up some undisclosed cash on behalf of the state government.
The Nigerian Tribune learned that the robbers blocked the homemade bullion van in which the deceased and the driver were riding into the office on the Kuto flyover, shot at Oyekanmi, broke the door of the van with a sledgehammer, and went away with the money.
The gunmen said to be in the hood successfully carted away the money without any form of resistance from any quarters.
Oyekanmi was reported to have been rushed to the General Hospital, Ijaye, for medical attention, but lost the battle for survival.
It was gathered that the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, paid a condolence visit to the family of the deceased.
When contacted, the State Police Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alamatu, confirmed the incident.
The CP said the police escort attached to the deceased, it was learned, was not on duty, having taken permission to be absent from duty on the fateful day.
Alamutu said, “This afternoon, the accountant, the director of finance, the driver, and one other person left for Fidelity Bank to make some withdrawals; they went with a homemade bullion van.
“They were supposed to have a police escort, but for certain reasons, the person was permitted to travel to attend to some issues, so consequently, he was not part of the movement today.
“According to the story, after making the withdrawal and on their way to the bank, they were arrested.
“A vehicle blocked them on top of the bridge; five occupants of the vehicle came down, shot at the director, and from their vehicle brought out a sledgehammer to force the receptacle where the money was kept open, and they left with the money.
“As at that time, there was no information, the police escort was not with the team, and they sped off.
“The driver claimed to have trailed them to a point along the conference hotel where he lost contact with them.
“The director that was shot was thereafter taken to Ijaye Hospital, where he eventually gave up the ghost.
“For our investigation, I have directed the area commander to get to the bank and request the CCTV footage, which will give us insight into the vehicle in question and the possibility of identifying the culprits if they ever ventured to step out of the vehicle or maybe they just maintained their position in the vehicle.
“I have reached out to Lagos and everywhere in the command to block all the exits out of the state while we are trying to identify them because they said they were five and they used hoods.”
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