Daring armed robbers shot Ogun State Government accountant Taiwo Oyekanmi on Wednesday in the state capital of Abeokuta and took off with the government’s funds.
Oyekanmi, the director of finance at the governor’s office in Oke-Mosan, was attacked by gunmen on his way back to the office after taking an undisclosed amount of money out of a Fidelity bank branch in Abeokuta, according to information our correspondent was able to collect.
According to sources, the accountant was shot at by the group of five hooded gunmen who stopped the homemade bullion van as it was crossing the overhead bridge at Kuto.
Further information revealed that the thieves, who were carrying sledgehammers, had broken the door of the bullion van and taken off with the government’s funds.
Oyekanmi and other aides who were shot during the attacks, according to insiders, were taken to the State General Hospital in Ijaye, where the accountant eventually passed away.
An official from the government informed Daily Trust that the accountant’s police escort was not a member of the team because he had obtained authority to handle personal concerns.
According to the source, Tokunbo Talabi, the Secretary to the State Government, had previously paid the late accountant’s family a visit to express his condolences.
In a Wednesday night phone call, Abiodun Alamutu, the Commissioner of Police, verified the occurrence.
“This afternoon, the Director of Finance, the accountant, and a driver went to Fidelity Bank to make some withdrawals. They travelled there in a homemade bullion van.” he stated. They were meant to be accompanied by a police escort, but the individual was allowed to travel in order to take care of some matters, thus he was not included in the movement up until this point.
The tale goes that they were harassed on their way back to the office after making the withdrawal. They were being prevented from reaching the top of the bridge by a car. Five people inside the car got out, fired shots at the director, and then used a sledgehammer to smash open the container holding the money and drove off with it.
The police escort was not with the team at the time, and they drove off as there was no information available.
“The driver said he followed them until he lost sight of them somewhere near the conference hotel.
“After being shut down, the director was brought to Ijaye Hospital, where he finally passed away.”
Alamutu claimed that in order to support the police’s investigation, he had made a demand for the bank’s CCTV video.
“In order to aid in our investigation, I’ve given the area commander instructions to go to the bank and request the CCTV footage. This will allow us to gain a better understanding of the vehicle in question and potentially identify the culprits, should they ever leave the vehicle or simply stay inside.”
“They said they were five and they used hood, so I reached out to Lagos and everyone in the command to block all the exits out of the state while we try to identify them.”
