THE three men accused in the September 20, 2009 killing of political reporter and assistant news editor of the Guardian newspapers, Mr. Bayo Ohu, were on Friday freed by a Lagos High Court headed by Justice Latifa Okunnu, citing the absence of sufficient evidence to prove that the men were actually at the scene of the crime.
The men, Ganiu Sulemon, Idris Balogon and Dada Adesanya had been charged by the Lagos state government for conspiring to murder and murdering the late Ohu at his Odukoya Estate residence of 9 Oyeniyi Street in the Akowonjo-Egbeda area of Ikeja, where they allegedly forced their entry as armed invaders and gunned down their victim, before making away with possessions that included at least 2 handsets and a laptop computer.
According to Justice Okunnu in her Friday ruling, the absence of the police witnesses submitted by the prosecution denied the court the necessary evidence needed to successfully prosecute the alleged killers.
The defense counsel headed by Yemi Omodele had initially filed a ‘no case’ submission before the court, appealing for the suspects to be freed.
Justice Okunnu’s court further held that there was no correlation in the evidence of the first prosecution witness, Kashi Taiwo and that of Bode Adetola, the 2nd prosecution witness, to show that the defendants were the persons that killed Ohu. What the prosecution had against the accused person according to the court was at best ‘mere suspicion which goes to no issue’.
The court subsequently discharged the accused persons.
Mr. Ohu’s 2009 murder generated a groundswell of reactions locally and internationally, with many suspecting that his killing had less to do with mere robbery than a case targeted elimination related to his line of work.
The police later revealed that electronic equipments that were stolen from Ohu’s residence were recovered upon the arrest of the suspects, according to a January 2010 statement from former police Ogbonna Onovo.
Ohu, 45, was shot by his assailants as he answered a knock at the front door of his house in Lagos. He was preparing to head to church to meet his wife, and two of his five children were home at the time. Neighbors drove him to a local hospital, but staff refused to treat him because he was not accompanied by police. He died before neighbors could get him to another hospital.
Members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists said they believe Ohu was killed for his political reporting. They said the murder may be linked to his investigation into alleged fraud in the Customs Department. He had also been reporting on Ekiti state elections, a volatile campaign that had led to several reports of anti-press violence.