The Police have recovered the Blackberry phone of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, the slain Principal Secretary of Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
He was murdered in May.
The phone was recovered in Yobe State. The suspect, in whose possession the phone was found, is being detained at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja.
It was gathered yesterday that the 16 suspects arrested in connection with the murder by the police and the State Security Service (SSS) have
admitted to the FCID that they sell items stolen during robbery operations to the same group of people.
A source said: “After Oyerinde was murdered, the items stolen, including a Blackberry phone, were given to a receiver in Benin, who later disposed of it.
“But the police traced the phone to the receiver and a buyer in Yobe State. We have arrested the buyer for questioning and he is still in custody. Receivers of stolen goods dispose of the items in places far away from the vicinity of the crime.”
The source said the police have uncovered more leads into the muder since the SSS handed over the six suspects in its custody to the police on Thursday.
The source said: “All the suspects have admitted that they are notorious armed robbers operating in the Benin axis. They have also admitted that they have common buyers of the loot from their operations. So, they have a meeting point.
“Although they confessed that Oyerinde was killed during a robbery, we are still probing the murder allegation.”
An environmentalist, who is a friend to the late Oyerinde, Rev. David Ugolor, is still being detained by the police in relation to the murder.
On why Ugolor is still in custody, the source said: “We are looking into some circumstantial evidence, including the call logs of the late Oyerinde and how the two friends parted ways on May 4, the day the incident occurred.
“In a sensitive case like this, Ugolor can only be let off the hook after investigation has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he had nothing to do with the murder. We are not just out to punish Ugolor; we have nothing to gain by doing so.
“But the fact that he was the last person the victim met with before going home makes him a prime suspect. As a matter of fact, we discovered that the late Oyerinde dropped Ugolor off at his (Ugolor’s) home before retiring to his (Oyerinde’s) home in GRA, Benin.
“We need to interact with him on his last moment with Oyerinde, analyse his call logs before and after the murder and engage in some forensic analysis. If he is innocent, we will release him immediately.
“You should understand our dilemma. Some of the suspects handed over to us by the SSS have recanted the statements they made to the police. This bend has left us with one or two gaps to fill. That is why a murder case is an open-ended thing. But we will surely crack this case.”
