Police arrest five over assassination of Fashola’s ex-aide

Five men were on Sunday night arrested at the Sagamu area of Ogun State in connection with the assassination of a former chairman of Ikeja Local Government, Lagos State, Mr. Toyin Hamzat.

Hamzat was also a former special adviser on health to Governor Babatunde Fashola.

It was learnt that he had just dropped a female companion when he was killed.

Although the police did not give the names of the arrested suspects, the spokesman for the Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said the estranged husband of Hamzat’s female companion was one of those arrested.

Adejobi said, “Hamzat was shot dead around 9pm on Sunday. According to the report we got, he had just dropped off a female friend when the gunmen ambushed his car and shot him.

“The woman said the vehicle the assailants used was likely to belong to her estranged husband. She also said there was a time the husband visited her and met Hamzat with her.

“The suspects are currently being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran, Abeokuta.”

Adejobi, however, said since investigation had just started, neither the name of Hamzat’s female companion nor the arrested suspects would be released for now.

The PPRO, who described the killing as a “clear case of murder,” said the body of the deceased had been taken to a morgue in Sagamu.

PUNCH Metro learnt that nothing was stolen in the vehicle in which Hamzat was killed fuelling speculation that he might have been assassinated.

A source said the former LG boss was shot in the head.

When one of  our correspondents visited a house belonging to Hamzat on Bodlan Street, Ojodu, Lagos on Monday, no family member was seen there as a tenant said the entire house was rented out.

Also, on Monday two policemen were killed at Olodo International Market along Ayetoro Road, Ogun State, by suspected cross border bandits.

Adejobi said the two slain policemen were on patrol when the bandits opened fire on them.

He said the robbers had stormed the market in order to rob the traders of their valuables.

The PPRO, however, said the command would not be deterred in its efforts to rid the state of criminals. Adejobi advised the leaders of the market to continue to cooperate with the police in order to make the area more secure.