PDP Godfathers Behind Death Of My Personal Secretary – Oshiomhole

Governor Oshiomole has linked the murder of his Personal Secretary to the attempt by some political godfathers to forcefully win the July 2012 gubernatorial election. Oshiomohole spoke while receiving all the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] governors who paid him a condolence visit at Benin over the death of his personal aide. Oyerinde was shot at his residence on Saturday by yet to be identified hired assassins at the presence of his immediate family. He claimed that he has been witnessing brutalization since he declared his intention to rule the state by some chieftains in the opposition party. He lamented that the security operatives has failed to invite any member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the killings. He said he has to look for other options to protect the people of the state because he cannot rely on the security apparatus. Oshiomhole also warned that if after 12 days the police failed to find the killers, he would find them and deal with them even though he does not believe in blood for blood. According to him, “We have the capacity to cage the godfather and return blood for blood. We won’t just go and sleep. We have to resolve how we want to run it and I am not ready to be looking as if my tenure is at the mercy of anybody. Only the people of Edo State can determine that,” Oshiomhole who refused to mention the name of the suspected godfathers said he had been using the President Goodluck Jonathan’s name to campaign in the state. He added that he had been telling the people that he has the President’s backing to use any means to win the governorship election. Oshiomhole said he had enough security report indicting the “godfather” for the killings and attempted killings in the last two weeks. He called on “the Abuja Judge’’ to call “the godfather” to order “or we will call him to order”. Speaking on the deceased, the Edo state governor described Oyerinde as a man with a passion for public service and a good sense of humour. His words, “He knows the way my mind work. When I want to write a concrete letter, he knows how to do it even though he wasn’t my secretary. “When I was leaving NLC, I looked around and said ‘I need someone who understands me’. I said, ‘you (Olaitan) join me for us to know this thing they call governance; if how we see outside is how it is still going to be’. That was how I brought him in.” However, the ACN governors are demanding for the review of the security system of the country. They want full control of security to be under the state governors rather than the federal would be the only way to tackle the issue of insecurity facing the country The governors who paid Oshiomohle visit were Babatunde Fashola, Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) spoke in Benin City. The logic of the governors, who are leading advocates of state police, is that if state chief executives were in direct control of the police, crimes, such as murder, armed robbery, and assassination and kidnapping, would, to a large extent, be nipped in the bud. Aregbesola said the killings would not have taken place, if Oshiomhole was in full control of the security machine. He said the killing confimed what has been witnessed in the country generally which, in his view, is an indication of failure of governance. According to Aregbesola, “If you were the Chief Security officer of this state, in full control of the security apparatus, this would not have happened, no matter how reckless the perpetrators of this heinous crime will want to be. The security situation in our land calls for a reform and reorganization “But the situation we find ourselves in this country is that governors are merely called chief security officers of their various states, while the federal government is in direct control.” He expressed dismay that politics, which Nigeria’s founding fathers based on issues had been reduced “to miserable factional and base materialism by those who have nothing else to offers than their own greed”. Fashola, also described the death of the personal secretary of Oshiomhole as ho describedOyerinde’s murder as “shocking” and “cruel”, He said: “We have come to sympathise with you and the people of Edo State over this very sad and unfortunate incident. We have come to express our solidarity and also to condemn the spate of violence that is manifesting in the run up to the election in this state. “We have come to commiserate with you and to urge you to continue with the good work that you’ve been doing in this state since you took office. We also wish to convey our sympathy to the family of your aide who was the victim of this incident.”