Four suspected killers of Yusuf Onivehu, a masquerade custodian from Governor Yahaya Bello’s clan, in Okene, Kogi State, have fingered the immediate past senator who represented Kogi Central Senatorial District, Ahmed Ogembe, as their sponsor.

Onivehu, was assassinated on November 16, 2018 in what some people linked to part of politically motivated killings in the state.

The four suspects were on Sunday evening paraded in Okene, headquarters of Kogi Central senatorial axis by Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Busari, and further interrogated at the parade by the state governor, Yahaya Bello.

The four suspects – Yusuf Abdulmumin, Aliyu Abona, 26; Yusuf Abdulkarim, 29, and Yusuf Tijani, 25 – claimed Ogembe contracted them to kill the deceased.

The four suspects were led by 32-year-old Yusuf Abdulmumin, who claimed to have anchored the entire operation, including surveillance and the killing with the support of the other suspects.

Confession

According to Abdulmumin, another suspect, Abdullahi Momohjimoh, now at large, who he served a jail term in Okene Maximum Prison with but later escaped from prison, was the main person contracted for the operation.

He said: “On that fateful day after tracing the deceased’s movement and we were certain of his whereabouts, we waylaid and kidnapped him with the intent to kill.”

The suspect claimed that after they shot at the deceased and the bullet did not penetrate, they then resorted to a grenade to blow off his head.

According to him, “Momohjimoh informed us that the contract was a big one and was being financed by Senator Ogembe and warned us to keep the information within our circle not to be revealed to any other soul.”

He also alleged that Momohjimoh’s gang was responsible for the prison break that led to his escape, and that after escape, his ‘benefactor’ retained his services at gunpoint, and forced him into committing several other heinous crimes, including the murder of Onivehu.

Another suspect, Aliyu Jafaru Abona, claimed he was a commercial motorcycle operator in Auchi, but was contacted by the gang to ferry the explosives, guns and other weapons for the operation, but denied knowledge of the content of the bag handed to him at the time.

The other two brothers in the crime, Yusuf Abdulkarim and Yusuf Tijani confessed they acted as surveillance agents in the operation, but denied knowledge of why they were asked to monitor the deceased.

Ogembe dismisses allegation, says Gov Bello after him

But reacting, Ogembe dismissed the allegation linking him to the assassination, alleging that Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State was after him, insisting that it was an orchestrated plot to rope him in.

He said: “I urged the people of Kogi Central and Kogi State to keep hope alive in the face of laughable exhibition of ignorance and uncivilised ways of doing things by Governor Bello. I am aware of the absurdity being pulled together by the governor to cause confusion and misinform the public. When an opportunist is at the helm of affairs, he thinks every other person is a fool. An Ebira adage says ‘When a fool talks he thinks people listening are also fools’.

“My word of advice to Yahaya Bello is to devote more time to governance by uplifting the welfare of the people and prompt payment of salaries/pension than engaging in cheap blackmail and frivolous propaganda.”

Meanwhile, Governor Bello has assured the people of the state of his commitment to ensuring security of lives and property by smoking out criminals wherever they may hide.

•Text (excluding headline) courtesy of Vanguard.

Update news