Police Must Fish out the Killers of Our Leader’s Daughter, Afenifere Cries out

 

The Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, expresses displeasure with the police over the seeming lackadaisical attitude towards apprehending the alleged Fulani herdsmen who killed the daughter of its leader, Mrs. Funke Olakunrin.

Afenifere, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, lamented that over two months after the murder, no progress has been made on the case and no serious attempt to launch an investigation has been taken by the police. 

According to him, “It's now over two months that Mrs. Olufunke Olakunrin, the daughter of Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, was murdered in Ore, Ondo State, and we are compelled to speak out over the lackadaisical attitude of the police over the gruesome assassination.”

 “Mr. Kehinde Fasoranti, the younger brother of the deceased, had stated openly a day after the incident that the police in Ore told him that the sister was killed by Fulani herdsmen when he went to collect her remains the day she was killed, challenging the police to bring out the statement he wrote at their station. They have not contradicted him till date.

“The first sign we got that there was no attempt to launch any serious investigation into the murder was when the car in which she was killed was released to the family from Ore police station the day after the murder without any forensic investigation into the most prized evidence at the scene of the crime.

“It was when we engaged the police high command that they came to pick the car six days later. The car has now been returned to the family with no report on the examination report.”

Afenifere wondered why the police never attempted to carry out an autopsy on the corpse “until we also demanded one from the police before the burial. One was carried out, and only that report was given to the family when they went to collect the car.

“Beyond this, the police have not made any briefing to the family on their investigations into this dastardly act. Other bizarre developments worry us on police investigations into this murder.

“For instance, the driver of the car in which Mrs. Olakunrin was killed has not been asked a question by the police till date. Furthermore, a few days after the killing, a staff of the deceased' husband, Bankole Olatunbosun, was arrested as he was said to be in touch with Mrs. Olakunrin's driver, Femi Ajayi, who drove the Sienna van in the deceased convoy.

“A week after the killing, Ajayi was brought into the family house in Akure by police officers in the anti-kidnap unit. The story from the crime scene was that Ajayi got down from the Sienna bus and followed the gunmen who killed Mrs. Olakunrin. He claimed he was kidnapped but there is no evidence of ransom requested from him or his family. He and Bankole Olatunbosun are now free men. Ajayi even strolled into the Fasoranti family house three days ago.

“All the above put together suggest to us clearly that the police have not done any serious investigations into this murder. And it worries us that we are seeing all the signs of lethargy that usually attend high profile murders with powerful masterminds in our country.”