Okooo....Fourteen years after the gruesome murder
of a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation,
Chief Bola Ige (SAN), the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon
Arase, on Monday, said the case could be reopened.
Solomon, who spoke on Monday during a programme, “View from the top,” on Channels Television, said that the investigation into the murder failed because it was not based on proper intelligence.
It will be recalled that the candidate
of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State and a former Chairman,
Senate Committee on Appropriation, Chief Iyiola Omisore, the immediate
past Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan, and the current
National Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Wale Oladipo, were arrested and
charged for the murder.
They were, however, discharged by the courts after a series of trials.
Arase, who was a member of the special
homicide unit that investigated the case, said the investigation was
also marred by the political atmosphere at the time.
Arase said the suspects were made to undergo lie detector tests.
He said, “Some people were charged to
court but just as I said before, our investigation was not
intelligence-led. So, we tended to situate it within the political
complexion of Osun State at that time. And you will also remember that
there were a lot of distractions when that investigation started.
“So, it looked as if the attention of
the police was diverted from the original cause of the event. I remember
we also brought in the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and we
wanted to ascertain if the people that we had in custody were the real
people.
“So, we administered the polygraph
examination but it did not work out. The polygraph test showed that they
were not the perpetrators. The scientific aid we were trying to get was
not in tandem with the circumstantial evidence that we had gathered.
And when you have such issues, the suspect is given the benefit of the
doubt. So, they walked away.”
Arase, who was also the Deputy Inspector
General of Police in charge of Intelligence before he was promoted last
month, said the case had not been closed.
The police boss said if new evidence emerged, the case would be revived.
He said, “Murder cases don’t have
statutes of limitation. Cases can always be reopened as it is done in
other countries. Once there is fresh evidence to suggest that the
probability of involvement or the criminal responsibility of one of the
suspects in that matter is higher, it can always be reopened. You hardly
close a criminal investigation that way.”
Arase said it was his plan to implement police reforms and also increase the standard of living of junior police officers.
The police boss urged his men to be more
professional and continue to operate on the assumption that suspects
are innocent until allegations against them were proven otherwise. He,
therefore, ordered his men to stop the habit of arresting suspects
before gathering evidence.
He said for things to improve in the police, the best university graduates must also join the security agency.
He said, “We must ensure that those who
are brought into the force are intelligent enough and can be easily
trained. When your manpower is wrong ab initio, you get everything
wrong. So, we have to look at our recruitment policy. We should be able
to attract the best people into the force.”
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