Olaitan’s Murder: SSS Hands Over Suspects To Police

Amidst the confusion which trailed their contradictory reports, the State Security Service, SSS, on Thursday handed over six suspected killers of the Principal Private Secretary to the Governor of Edo state, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, to the Nigeria Police.

The police had claimed that the late Oyerinde was murdered in contrast to the position of the State Security Service which said the murder was a result of a robbery incident.

Both security agencies had in their separate press conferences said they are working in close collaboration with each other to harmonize the two case files.

The SSS at about 5.00pm handed over the six suspects which were paraded recently as the suspects in the murder of Oyerinde in its custody to the Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad, SARS, at Area 10, Garki District of Abuja.

The alleged suspects were paraded by the SSS on Wednesday, August 1, with their names given as Sani Abdullahi Abubakar, a Nigerien; Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullahi, Raymond Onajite Origbo, Chikezie Edeh, Saidu Yakubu (aka Imam), and Hassan Bashiru.

Spokesperson of the SSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, had stated that Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was murdered in cold blood by the trio of Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullahi, Raymond Onajite Origbo and Chikezie Edeh.

According to her, the three other suspects, Saidu Yakubu (aka Imam), Sani Abdullahi Abubakar and Hassan Bashiru are habitual buyers of stolen items.

On its part, the Police listed eight suspects as being involved in the murder of Oyerinde as revealed by their investigation.

Spokesman of the Police, Frank Mba however stated that two of the suspects, Hassan Bashiru and Abubakar Lawal are at present, in the custody of the SSS.

Among the remaining six, Mba said four of them were physically involved in the killing of Oyerinde. He also gave their names as Danjuma Musa, Murtala Usman, Auta Umoru and Moses Asama Okoro (aka Moses Auchi).

On the issue of a perceived inter-agency rivalry, Mba noted that “The Nigeria Police and the SSS are tied together.
“Our destinies are intrinsically linked together” he stated.

“The issue of rivalry does not arise. The SSS is our baby. We saw them through their gestation and lactation period. We helped them to crawl, work and run. And today, they are flying. The Nigeria Police stands in a paternalistic relationship with the SSS. No responsible father will be jealous that his son is doing well. There is no element of rivalry here. We are glad at their huge contribution to the security of the nation.”

At the separate session, Ms. Ogar affirmed that there is no friction between the SSS and the police. “We will soon hand over these suspects to the police to marry their facts. We are not working at cross purposes.

“We are trying to unravel those who killed Oyerinde and if the suspects we arrested claimed they went to Oyerinde’s house to rob and in the process killed the man, we will hand them over to the police”.