Former THISDAY editorial board member, the late Abayomi Ogundeji was gunned down under mysterious circumstances the other day in Lagos. The Nigerian Police is yet to provide any useful and convincing investigation reports as to how he was slaughtered in cold blood. It has to be very difficult for any organization to indict itself and that could be reason why the ʽreal killersʼ remain at large.
Former THISDAY editorial board member, the late Abayomi Ogundeji was gunned down under mysterious circumstances the other day in Lagos. The Nigerian Police is yet to provide any useful and convincing investigation reports as to how he was slaughtered in cold blood. It has to be very difficult for any organization to indict itself and that could be reason why the ʽreal killersʼ remain at large.
Abayomi has since been buried and THISDAY newspaper vowed to do all within its powers to unravel the 'real killers'. I doubt that those who made those vows know exactly what to do or in the minimum, how to go about making good on their promise. The fact of Nigerian life is that in the heat of the moment, somebody has to say something. I never understand why Nigeria continues to remain an abysmal environment with disturbing dearth of populace with common sense.
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We still have people in search of the real killers of Dele Giwa since 1987. Retired emperor Obasanjo when he was ʽPresidentʼ vowed to apprehend and prosecute those that killed Chief Bola Ige and shortly after, he also vowed to bring those who snuffed life out of Funsho Williams to book. The same vows, vows and more vows were made for Dikhibo, Alfred Rewane, Kudirat Abiola and a whole host of others departed. The backlog of cases with the Nigerian Police looking for the real killers of Nigerians who died under mysterious consequences has to be overwhelming. New cases are being piled upon them and not one of them is resolved. It must be a hard job anywhere in Nigeria to have the job of apprehending real killers and bringing them to book. Consequently, the real killers must be having a field day because we just cannot find them.
The book where the real killers are supposed to be kept must be empty. Like most of its peers, THISDAY newspaper is practicing lame, irresponsible cash and carry journalism. The newspaper is fascinated with promoting musical jamborees, award shows and rating governors' ʽperformanceʼ based on frolicsome, idiotic and self centered basis. The newspapers are not interested in good governance. Notable and very expensive Hip Hop artists are imported annually from America to play in a society where the police can kill you and blame 'armed robbers' with no consequences. Another unsettling and unfortunate butchery of Mr. Ogundeji came from Nduka Obaigbenaʼs comments at the funeral. Nduka told the world that he never met Ogundeji even as editorial board member of his THISDAY. I guess it makes him look bigger and larger than life if he did not know one of the editorial board members of his irresponsible newspaper organization. Nduka declared to the whole world that Ogundeji's salary will be paid for the next 5 years! My question is why 5 years? Is this a standard practice at THISDAY or simply a PR stunt? Ogundejiʼs widow will be extremely lucky if the family receives 5 months salary before one THISDAY executive will demand regular sex from her for subsequent irregular payments. Under normal circumstances in normal societies, Ogundejiʼs widow should be paid his known final entitlements from THISDAY and Life Insurance proceeds should follow shortly after. My curiosity led to me to place a phone call to a friend who resides in another continent. I wanted to know if someone like Ogundeji would have any form of Life Insurance policy paid for by his employers. My friend thought I had to be joking or may have resorted to smoking the cheap Mexican crack. My next curiosity was whether someone he was related to, who recently served as a governor in Nigeria had any kind of Life Insurance while he was in office? The only Insurance available in Nigeria is to steal as much as you can while you can. I queried my friend if we have Insurance companies in Nigeria and he answered in the affirmative. My friend does not know what the insurance companies actually insure. I am hoping to get enlightened on this subject very soon. Even in the advanced countries, I have always looked at the insurance companies with a great deal of suspicion.
You need a whole lot of honest people in a decent society to pool resources managed by competent administrators to carry out the insurance business. As long as THISDAY and other Nigerian newspapers continues to pursue self serving policies that does not hold current 'selected' government officials responsible for their actions, and as long as they do not pursue and demand probity and accountability, sad events like the one that befell Ogundeji will continue to happen. May the good Lord grant the family of Abayomi Ogundeji the fortitude to bear his loss. May he also touch the hearts of the journalists to sign up for fair, purpose driven, objective reporting and the moral fiber to reject brown or other colored envelope. If you are patient enough to read through this point, or you simply skipped the preceding paragraphs to get to this point, how about a round of applause for the Nigerian Hunters? When all outdated Global Positioning Systems (GPS) purchased at inflated amounts failed, these Hunters have a way of making things happen. The James Ibori aircraft that has been missing for months was just recently discovered by our world class Hunters. Too bad hunting is not an Olympic sport!
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The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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