A police officer who participated
in the investigation of the murder of former World Bank consultant, Dr. Ayodeji
Daramola, John Emeje, has tendered statements obtained from former Personal
Assistant to Governor Fayose Fayose, Goke Olatunji, before an Ekiti State High
Court in Ado-Ekiti.
Emeje appeared at the
continuation of hearing of the case before Justice Adewale Fowe on the murder
of Daramola, a former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant on
14th August, 2006 at his personal residence in Ijan-Ekiti.
Olatunji’s statements tendered by
the witness and admitted in evidence by the court include the ones made on 19th
October 2006, 10th November 2006 and 18th November 2006.
Emeje, a retired Deputy
Superintendent of Police (DSP), told the court that he was attached to the
Inspector General of Police Special Investigation Unit at the Force
Headquarters in Abuja. He said he came to the court to give evidence based on a
letter he received from the Ministry of Justice.
He disclosed that he was
contacted through a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Amodu
Ali whom he said was assigned by the IGP to serve as the Chairman of Force
Special Investigation Panel at Force Headquarters.
Emeje explained that Daramola
murder case file was transferred from the State Criminal Investigation
Department (SCID) of Ekiti State Police Command to the Force Headquarters and
he was detailed to carry out investigation.
He said: “I was the head of the team and I was actively involved in the investigation; I visited the scene of the crime with my team at the late Dr. Daramola’s residence and by that time, he had been buried already.
“We saw the grave, the post mortem had been performed by detectives in Ekiti State before the case was transferred. It was in the file, I can identify the report.”
Emeje went on: “In the course of our investigation, some persons including the defendant (Olatunji) were arrested and interrogated and in the course of the interrogation, the statement of the defendant was
recorded.
“The interrogation of the defendant was sequel to a statement made by one of the suspects implicating him (Olatunji) in the murder of the late Daramola. I recorded the statement and subsequent statements were further made by the defendant in my presence.”
The witness explained that based
on Olatunji’s denial of complicity in the killing of Daramola in all the
statements he volunteered to the Police, an identification parade was conducted
at Force Headquarters but he said he couldn’t recall the date.
Emeje identified other suspects
in the alleged murder to include Taiwo Olanipekun, Busuyi Aladesanmi and Daniel
Ukaegbu with the parade conducted by AIG Ali adding that at the end of the
parade, the suspects could not identify Olatunji.
Referring to Exhibits 1 and 3,
which were the statements made by defendant, the witness told the court that he
(Olatunji) was in Ikoyi Prisons on 14th August, 2006, the day Daramola was
murdered.
According to the witness,
Olatunji said in the statement that he was arrested on 24th July, 2006 at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport while accompanying his former boss to an
overseas trip and was still detained in Lagos when the murder occurred in
Ekiti. The case was adjourned to 3rd July, 2017 for further hearing.
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