BARELY  a few hours into the year 2023, the murder of a former Central Bank of Nigeria staff, Kehinde Fatinoye and his wife, Bukola Fatinoye shook Ogun State and Nigeria in extension. The gruesome manner in which the couple was killed in their home, located in Ibara Government Reservation Area, Abeokuta, Ogun State, after returning from the yearly Crossover Service that commemorates the celebration of the birth of a new year, sent shivers down people’s spines as the bodies of the Fatinatoyes were set ablaze, apparently to shroud the motive of the wicked act and cover the assailants’ tracks from investigators. To worsen the case, their only son, 23-year-old Oreoluwa, who was driven away by the suspects, was later found dead inside the Ogun River along Obada-Adigbe road.

UPON arrest, the principal suspect, who was the driver to the late family, Lekan Adekanbi, who was earlier arrested as the only suspect in the incident, escaped from police custody when he was taken to hospital after he pretended to have fainted. He was, however, rearrested, barely a week after, alongside other perpetrators of the dastardly act on January 1, 2023. Adekanbi’s alibi for wiping out the Fatinoyes from the surface of the earth was his late employers’ refusal to grant his requests for a salary increase and loan.

HOW the Ogun State police command handled the case and unearthed the perpetrators is very commendable and worthy of being a reference point to unresolved murder cases in Nigeria. The police did not only handle the case swiftly but also in a professional manner. We gathered that when the late Fatinoyes’ driver escaped from the hospital, where he was taken to after he fainted, the Police Commissioner in the state changed the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the case and the assailants were rounded off a few days after, despite the perpetrators covering their tracks to evade the police. We equally commend  Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun for giving a marching order to the Ogun Police Command to fish out the perpetrators.

WHILE  we commend the police for a job well done, we equally use this medium to remind the police of several unresolved murder cases in the country. Up till now, the murder of Funsho Williams in Lagos, Chief Bola Ige, Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), Iniobong Umoren, Yusuf Alowonle Omomewa, Sylvester Oromoni and several other cases are yet to be resolved. Unresolved cases encourage perpetrators to do more and also give confidence to others to go into crime. Who knows what Adekanbi and his accomplices would have done if they were not apprehended. Resolving the Fatinoyes’ murder case within  a short period of time  showed that if the Nigerian police want to be effective, they will be. We appeal to the police to extend such swiftness to cases involving commoners and not only the privileged.

WITHOUT mincing words, the police still need to self-purge as several unscrupulous elements in the service have become permanent stains in the fabric of the police. We recall that a week before the Fatinoyes were murdered,  a Lagos-based female lawyer, Mrs. Bolanle Raheem was unprovokedly shot and killed by ASP Drambi Vandi in Ajah area. There are  also  several cases of police brutality, extrajudicial killing, extortion and several other misconducts reported by the citizens, which were parts of the factors that triggered off  the EndSARS protest in the year 2020.

WE call on the Police Service Commission to review its recruitment process and as well as the training curriculum of the officers. It will do the police and the general public good if only people with impeccable  characters are recruited into the service. We also appealed to the political and elite class of the country to desist from influencing the recruitment process of the police, thereby giving room for bad elements into the service on the platter of ‘Ogas at the top’.

WE also admonish Nigerians to rethink the process of hiring domestic staff. Only people with recognised and certified guarantors should be employed and proper documentation be done with the security agencies. In August, the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) reportedly arrested a Boko Haram leader in Ijaye, Ogun State, where he disguised himself as a gatekeeper, while gathering intelligence for an attack. If there was proper documentation by the employers, the terrorist would have been arrested earlier. 

THE  Hope also called on Nigerians to be mindful of used goods and commodities they buy from others. One Azeez Usman was arrested for buying the Fatinoyes’ stolen car by Adekanbi and his accomplices for N150, 000, before butchering the car into pieces. There have been several cases of people, who bought stolen property and ended up being arrested as accomplices in bigger crimes they knew nothing about.