Suger’s Murder: ADP Protests give DSS, Police ultimatum

Tom Okpe, Abuja

While the nation awaits the rescheduled inconclusive election in some states fixed for March 23 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Action Democratic Party (ADP) has protested the murder of its prominent member, Temitope Olatoye, (also known as Sugar) in Oyo State during the Governorship and the State House of Assembly election last Saturday, asking the Inspector General of Police and the Directorate of State Security Service (DSS) to unravel the killers within 48 hours.

Olatoye was reportedly shot at a close range on Saturday evening, March 9, 2019, and later died at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, following the bullet wounds he sustained on the head by suspected political opponents in Lalupon area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday, National Chairman and Presidential candidate of the party, Engr. Yusuf Yabaji Sani, described the late lawmaker as an astute and principled politician, saying that despite the overtures by some political parties to defect, the late lawmaker stuck to the ADP principles and remained loyal to the party.

He said: “We call on the Inspector General of Police, Director General DSS and other relevant security agencies to within the next forty eight hours order a thorough investigation and bring to book the perpetrators of this dastardly political act.

“The ADP is exceedingly worried that Sugar who had won his Senatorial elections convincingly and later upturned was reportedly attacked by suspected thugs of a rival politician in his Lagelu/Akinyele Federal Constituency of Oyo State.

“We are confident of justice in this premeditated day light murder as we rely on the promises made by the President Muhammadu Buhari before the elections that all perpetrators of election violence will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“The ADP joins Sugar’s grieving aged mother, family members, friends, political associates, millions of supporters and the rest of humanity to denounce the gruesome murder of this philanthropist par excellence, family man, peace maker, popular politician exceedingly loved by his people who had continuously elected him at every election he contested from the state House of Assembly to the Federal House of Representative where he was a serving member until his last outing when he again, was elected to represent his constituency as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

Engr. Yabàji said the party is proud that the late Sugar remained an apostle of the ADP ideal of providing credible alternative leadership, ideas, philosophical framework and development-oriented policies that has been spoken of in the last one year.

“Hon Sugar’s death was one in many others perpetrated by desperate politicians for selfish and ill- motivated interests.

These condemnable acts of killings and the impunity, with which they are carried out have appalled Nigerians and members of the international election observers, who have also denounced the killings and irregularities that characterised the elections, especially the March 9 Governorship and state House of Assembly elections.

“The violence of the 2019 elections has once again proved that some political actors in Nigeria have imbibed this dangerous do-or- die politics, which has continued to bring death and destruction of property in every election cycle.

The ADP is even more grieved that the security agencies that promised adequate security before, during and after the polls, appeared to have failed in their duties.

“The ADP has it on good authority that elements of some favoured political parties had the backing of the security forces, while they perpetrated violence and irregularities during the polls”, he stated.