-Three Policemen Detained as Suspects
-Governor Mimiko Visits Affected Community
THE news reporter with Sunday Mirror, Mr. Biyi Adegoroye, who was alleged to have
been influenced by the Ondo State Police Command to falsify the facts surrounding the murder of a community youth leader and precinct organizer for the Ondo State Labor Party, Mr. Ajayi Bejide (a.k.a. Abella), has denied the allegation that he was bribed by the police.
Mr. Adegoroye, who is also the regional manager (south west) of the National Mirror titles, with operational office base in Ayede Ogbese where the late Bejide lived and managed the cocoa plantation inherited from his late father, Mr. George Bejide, said that he regretted the mixed message, particularly the allegation that the victim was “a drug dealer and robbery suspect” contained in his initial report.
Mr. Adegoroye said that residents of Ayede Ogbese have confirmed that the deceased’s role as that of an “unfortunate peacemaker.” The Oba of Ayede Ogbese, Oba Pete Adetunbi Olasehinde Oluyede, is calling for a complete retraction of the publication in question, published on Sunday, September 9, which had impugned on the character of the late Ajayi Bejide.
“I have never been compromised, whether as a media manager or as a journalist. I have not had any direct dealings with the police in more than four weeks. I don’t know the man that was killed and I had no animosity whatsoever towards him. My report, which I regret was based on that the police alleged,” Mr. Adegoroye told sharpedgenews.com in a telephone chat Tuesday afternoon.
“Please believe me when I say I was not bribed. I have blood in my veins. There is no way I could have disrespected or dishonored an innocent man in death,” he added.
His rebuttal is coming on the same day the family of the late Bejide brought his body from the University College Hospital, Ibadan, where he died. The remains have now been deposited at the State Specialist Hospital Mortuary in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Family sources told sharpedgenews.com that, contrary to the smear spread by the police’s public relations officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police Adeniran Aremu, the state police commissioner is still negotiating with the family, the king and the people of Ayede Ogbese.
Police sources told sharpedgenews.com that at least three policemen are in custody for their role in the murder of the peacemaker, Ajayi Bejide, including the duo of Corporal Shehu and Inspector John Jasper Nwagbu, both of whom were mentioned in the initial report published on Monday.
Family sources told sharpedgenews.com that they suspected that the police’s public relations officer in Ondo State was trying to soften the ground for the acquittal of the murderers, by trying to manipulate public opinion in the way he mischaracterized the victim as a “notorious drug dealer and robbery suspect.”
The police want to blackmail Ajayi to enable the acquittal of his murderers who would later be reassigned elsewhere. That must not be allowed to happen. If they are allowed to escape justice, they would likely repeat the same crime elsewhere,” said the family source who spoke under condition of anonymity out of concern for his personal safety. It is not unusual for vindictive colleagues of embattled policemen to stage reprisal attacks on persons they hold in private contempt.
Earlier in the day on Tuesday, the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko visited Ayede Ogbese to, among other things, offer his sympathies over the incident. The governor advised youths in the community to shun crime and bad conduct, saying the youths were not an after-thought in the “caring heart” programs of his administration. He promised that Ajayi Bejide would not be allowed to die in vain.