A traditional ruler in Lalupon where a member of the House of Representatives representing Lagelu/Akinyele Federal Constituency, Mr. Temitope Olatoye was killed, Oba Muniru Adekunle, has said the detained Chief Whip of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Olafisoye Akinmoyede is innocent of the murder case.
He said they were best of friends when the late lawmaker was alive.
Olatoye, popularly known as ‘Sugar’, was killed by unknown gunmen during the March 9 governorship and House of Assembly elections at Lalupon town.
Akinmoyede, who contested for the Lagelu State Constituency for the second time under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but lost to the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has since been in detention at the State Criminal Investigations Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan in connection with the incident.
The monarch, while speaking with newsmen in Ibadan on Wednesday, described the lawmaker as a man of peace, saying he had contributed immensely to the development of Lalupon town and the entire local government area through his philanthropic activities.
Although he admitted that both Akinmoyede and the late Olatoye belonged to different political parties, Oba Adekunle described them as “brothers and best of friends”, saying they had jointly and individually committed enormous resources to the socio-economic wellbeing of the people of the area.
“I have always known Sugar and Akinmoyede as not only brothers but also best of friends. It is therefore inconceivable that one would want to terminate the other’s life, for whatever reason.
“As the traditional ruler of Lalupon town where Akinmoyede hails from, I know him to be a man of peace; he does not encourage thuggery and violence. I’m sure he didn’t know anything about the incident,” he said.
The monarch added that the fact that the legislator voluntarily responded to the police invitation by walking to the SCIB, Iyaganku in Ibadan as well as the testimonies of most of his subjects on Akinmoyede’s characters were enough evidence that he was innocent.
Although Oba Adekunle commended the police for the job they have done so far concerning the killing of Sugar, he however urged them to further intensify their efforts to find the real killers of the late lawmaker with a view to bringing them to book.
He commiserated with the family of Olatoye over the untimely death of the lawmaker, describing it as unfortunate and disheartening.
The royal father said that the late lawmaker would be sorely missed for being a good ambassador of his constituents and for his unprecedented philanthropy which had endeared him to his people.
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