(http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/thumbnail.php?file=oyerinde_932982813.jpg&size=article_medium) •The late Oyerinde Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Abdulwaheed Omar has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over the security situation in Edo State. He warned that, if unchecked, the situation could truncate Nigeria’s fledgling democracy.
Comrade Omar urged the President to prevail on the security agencies to find the killers of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, the NLC deputy national secretary, who was on secondment to Governor Adams Oshiomhole as a Principal Private Secretary. Oyerinde was murdered in Benin City on May 4. His remains will be buried today in Ede, Osun State.
Omar, who spoke when he led members of the administrative council of industrial unions and Edo workers to commiserate with Comrade Oshiomhole over Oyerinde’s murder, said those who killed him should know they have killed Labour’s highest ranking staff member.
He said: “We have come to join the Edo State Council of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the organisers of the peaceful protest, to present letters to His Royal Majesty, the Oba of Benin, the Director of the State Security Service and Commissioner of Police and we have received encouraging words from them that the killers will be brought to justice.
“It is our expectations that all these efforts will not go unrewarded. We have come to present a condolence letter to the governor as this is a very serious loss, not only to the labour movement but the Edo people.
“We are giving you the assurances that this is a fight on which all Nigerian workers must join hands together. We must rise up and remind ourselves that an injury to one is an injury to all.”
Oshiomhole expressed reservations with the outcome of the investigations because over the years, there have been several murder cases and the suspected killers are still walking the streets free.
The governor said: “It is the result of this investigation that will determine the steps we take. I will stand up to be counted in any measure we are about to take. What will be the difference is the quality of their investigation, because there have been many investigations.
“The police must establish who they used to execute this heinous crime to deal with this cult of impunity. Beginning from May 18 when the 14-day ultimatum given to the security agencies will expire, if they do not find the people who killed Olaitan, I intend to take some measures. There has to be balance of madness because nobody has the monopoly of madness.”
While counting on the support of the labour movement, the governor said he will fall back to his labour training because according to him, “enough is enough. Nothing excites me more than getting results to convince me certain persons are not above the law.”
The governor disclosed that Edo State Government has decided to rename Delta Crescent, the street on which Chief Tony Anenih’s house is located in Benin City after the late Olaitan.
TheNation