5th January, 2011
The newly appointed caretaker chairman of Ijebu North Local Government Council of Ogun State, South West Nigeria, Niyi Arije, has been murdered.
The deceased, P.M.NEWS gathered, was attacked by some gunmen two days ago along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on his way to Ibadan, but managed to escape and was later rushed to University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan where he died around 7p.m. yesterday.
Arije, who until his death was a Commissioner in the Ogun State Local Government Service Commission, was appointed as the caretaker chairman of Ijebu North local government and he was expected to resume office later this month.
According to a family source who pleaded anonymity, “We are finished. Niyi was a very nice man who accommodated everybody in the family. Who could he have offended that now decided to cut his life at its prime? This is inhuman. It is high time the politicians changed their ways because this kind of attitude cannot lead them anywhere. Rather, it will lead them to destruction. They have murdered sleep and all those involved in Niyi’s death will know no peace,†he cursed.
Hon. Niyi Arije, 55, hailed from Olowu compound in Oke-Sopen, Ijebu-Igbo. He was the Chairman, Ogun State Market Management Board between 2003 and 2007 and the Commissioner IV in the Ogun State Local Government Service Commission, Abeokuta before he was appointed as the caretaker chairman of Ijebu North Local Government.
He was survived by many wives and children.
As at the time of filing this report, family members and political associates of the deceased had collected the corpse from the hospital and were on their way to his Ibadan residence, in Odo-Ona Elewe, for the burial arrangement.
A family source informed our correspondent that the deceased will be buried in his Ibadan home.
Meanwhile, the rescheduled PDP House of Assembly primaries in Ogun State yesterday claimed the lives of two people in Ijebu-Ode.
The deceased, P.M.NEWS gathered, were supporters of some of the aspirants.
An eyewitness account revealed that one of the deceased died after he was severely beaten by some boys.
According to an eyewitness, “we were all outside the Stadium in Ijebu-Ode venue of the primaries. We were not allowed to go in because we were neither delegates nor executive members of the party. We just went there to observe. All of a sudden, we heard gun shots from those boys who gathered there. They are cult boys. They beat up one boy and the boy was seriously wounded.
“It was later they started shooting into the air and this attracted the attention of the mobile policemen in the stadium who quickly came out and also started shooting into the air to disperse the boys. Some people were hit by the bullets.
“The boy that was beaten was later taken to Olu-Ola Hospital, along Awujale street in Ijebu-Ode and he died.
This did not go down well with his gang who went ahead to avenge the death of one of them by killing a boy in the other group.
When our correspondent contacted the chairman of PDP in Ijebu-Ode, Alhadji Rasaq Arowolo, he debunked the rumour and insisted that the exercise was successful.
“My brother, I am the chairman of the party and whatever I tell you is nothing but the truth. There was no iota of truth in all the rumour. There was no problem at Stadium during the exercise and Mufutau Oseni did not kill anybody and nothing happened to his brother, Shakiru. This is the work of some mischievous persons in the party, but we will get over it,†Arowolo maintained.
Though the former LG boss, Mufutau Oseni, won the primaries, there are speculations that the party may lose the seat to the opposition party.
Meanwhile, the primary of the Federal House of Representatives has been shifted till tomorrow because of the lingering crisis in the party.
The top contenders for the seat are the former Reps. member, Hon. Wale Ogunbanjo, the incumbent Reps. member, Hon. Gbenga Oduwaye and Hon. M.O. Kukoyi (a.k.a. Ko si giri).
— Abiodun Onafuye/Ijebu-Ode
