Ex-gov’s aide, 2 others killed at football viewing centre in Ekiti

Three persons, including the Personal Assistant to ex-governor Segun Oni, Mr. Bunmi Ojo, were killed on Friday night by unknown gunmen in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

Ojo, until his death was a commissioner on the board of the Federal Character Commission. He was shot dead by the attackers at about 10 pm at a football viewing centre in Adebayo area, along Iworoko, where he had gone in company of some of his friends.

The identity of the other two is still unknown. A source told journalists yesterday that six armed men invaded the viewing centre and shot Ojo, who was a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and two others. Ojo, according to the source was shot in the head and stomach and his body has been deposited at the morgue of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti.

A source within the Oni group, said Ojo was nursing political ambition ahead 2019, adding that he had the intention of contesting the House of Representatives seat in Ekiti-North Federal Constituency II, which comprises Ido/Osi, Ilejemeje and Moba Local Governments.

The source said: “This killing may have been politically motivated. He had aspiration and he had made contact with his group and they were already doing underground works”.

Another source, however, attributed the killing to cult activities in the area.

He said, “several persons have been killed in Adebayo area of recent. I learnt the killers were cultists and they had a target at the viewing centre which might not likely be him.

“Those who were killed, including Oni’s Personal Assistant, must have been killed in error, because they are not likely to be the target”.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, DSP Caleb Ikechukwu could not be reached to confirm the killing as he did not pick calls put through to him.

But the Ekiti State government condemned the attack. In a statement issued yesterday by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the government condoled with the families, friends and political associates of the deceased, praying that God will console his wife and children.

Also, the state’s governor-elect, Kayode Fayemi, expressed shock and sadness over the incident and called on security agents to fish out the killers.