Armed robbers have killed the Director of Finance attached to the Ogun State Governor’s Office, Mr. Taiwo Oyekanmi and carted away millions of Naira.
The deceased had picked up an undisclosed amount of money from a commercial bank located along the Omida-Ibara axis of Abeokuta, the state capital on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 and was heading back to the office when he was waylaid by the gunmen.
It was gathered that the masked gunmen blocked the homemade bullion van as the driver was ascending the overhead bridge at Kuto and opened fire on Oyekanmi.
The gunmen broke the door of the van with a sledgehammer and went away with the government’s money.
Oyekanmi and other aides who sustained injuries during the attacks were rushed to the General Hospital, Ijaye, where he later died.
The State Police Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alamatu, who confirmed the incident on Wednesday night, said the police escort attached to the deceased was not on duty as he had taken permission to attend to family matters.
“This afternoon, the accountant, the director of finance, the driver, and one other person left for Fidelity Bank to make some withdrawals; they went with a homemade bullion van,” the CP stated.
“They were supposed to have a police escort, but for certain reasons, the person was permitted to travel to attend to some issues, so consequently, he was not part of the movement today.
“According to the story, after making the withdrawal and on their way to the bank, they were arrested.
“A vehicle blocked them on top of the bridge; five occupants of the vehicle came down, shot at the director, and from their vehicle brought out a sledgehammer to force the receptacle where the money was kept open, and they left with the money.
“As at that time, there was no information, the police escort was not with the team, and they sped off.
“The driver claimed to have trailed them to a point along the conference hotel where he lost contact with them.
“The director that was shot was thereafter taken to Ijaye Hospital, where he eventually gave up the ghost.
“For our investigation, I have directed the area commander to get to the bank and request the CCTV footage, which will give us insight into the vehicle in question and the possibility of identifying the culprits if they ever ventured to step out of the vehicle or maybe they just maintained their position in the vehicle.
“I have reached out to Lagos and everywhere in the command to block all the exits out of the state while we are trying to identify them because they said they were five and they used hoods.”
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