…From Dele Ogunyemi, Ibadan…
The Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor on Security, Mr. Segun Abolarinwa, at the week-end urged the people of the state to patiently await the outcome of police investigations into the recently discovered kidnappers’ den at Soka in Oluyole Local Government Area of Ibadan.
He also said the outcome of forensic investigations currently being conducted by security agencies as well as examination by experts to unravel the circumstances surrounding the killings by alleged perpetrators of the dastardly act would soon be made public.
Mr. Abolarinwa, who spoke on a radio programme in Ibadan, said it would not be proper to preempt the outcome of the investigations before it is concluded by the security agencies.
The Special Adviser, who described the incident as highly unfortunate and disheartening, absolved the state government of any complicity in the plights of the captives and the killings of the victims at the den, saying no government would sit by watching its citizens being killed and taken captive.
He recalled that the site was acquired in 1988 by a firm, Habiton which later leased to a construction company, Aprofill, adding that Aprofill abandoned the site when the contract it was executing then was terminated.
On why the site had not been taken back by the state government since it was abandoned, he said that Habiton had taken Aprofill and government to court and that the case had yet to be determined, thus preventing the government from tampering with the large expanse of land which he put at 11,000 sq. metre.
He stated that it was part of the government’s urban renewal programme to remove destitute from the streets, adding that it was true that government contracted consultants to remove destitute from the streets with an understanding that the destitute so removed would be rehabilitated and reunited with their respective families, while those from other parts of the country would be taken to their states of origin.
Mr. Abolarinwa said that the issue of hiring consultants for such assignments did not just start with the Ajimobi administration, stressing that such arrangements had been on for several years and that the particular consultant hired for the assignment had worked with past administrations.
He, however, said that the police and other forensic experts handling the matter should be allowed to conclude their investigations to determine whether the consultant hired by government was involved in taking destitute to the site, though without the knowledge and approval of government.
The Special Adviser said that even Governor Ajimobi was surprised to have discovered such a thick forest in the heart of Ibadan city, lying fallow for several years without anything done to put it into better use.
This, he said, spurred the governor into revoking the certificate of occupancy of the land and ordering the immediate demolition of the structures and clearing of the bush to allow for visibility.