Suspected armed robbers on Wednesday hijacked a bullion van belonging to the Ogun State government and carted away an undisclosed amount of money.
The robbers also shot and killed an accountant in the Governor’s office, Taiwo Oyekanmi, who was accompanying the bullion van.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu, confirmed the incident, saying that he has ordered the blocking of all exit points out of the state.
He said the Command has reached out to police in neighbouring states to assist in apprehending the culprits.
Oyekanmi, the Director of Finance at the Governor’s office, had picked up an undisclosed amount of money from a branch of Fidelity Bank in Abeokuta and was heading back to the office when he was waylaid by the gunmen.
Sources said the hooded gunmen, numbering five shot the accountant dead on the Kuto overhead bridge and went away with the government’s money.
An official of the government told our correspondent that, Oyekanmi and other aides who sustained gunshot injuries during the attack were rushed to the State General Hospital, Ijaye, where the accountant later died.
The source further said that the police escort attached to the accountant was not part of the team as he had taken permission to attend to family matters.
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Tokunbo Talabi, has already visited the late accountant’s residence to commiserate with the family.
“This afternoon, the accountant, the director of finance with a driver and one other person left for Fidelity bank to make some withdrawal, they went with a homemade bullion van. They were supposed to have a police escort, but for certain reasons, the person was permitted to travel to attend to some issues, so consequently he was not part of the movement to today,” the source said.
“According to the story, after making the withdrawal, and on their way back to the office, they were accosted. A vehicle blocked them on top of the bridge, five occupants of the vehicle came down, shot at the director and from their vehicle brought out a sledgehammer to force the receptacle where the money was kept open and they left with the money.
“As at that time, there was no information, the police escort was not with the team and they sped off. The director who was shot was thereafter taken to Ijaye hospital where he eventually gave up the ghost.
“For our investigation, I have directed the Area Commander to get to the bank and request the CCTV footage which will give us insight into the vehicle in question and the possibility of identifying the culprits if they ever ventured to step out of the vehicle or maybe they just maintained their position in the vehicle.
“I have reached out to Lagos and everywhere in the command to block all the exits out of the state while we are trying to identify them because they said they were five and they used hood.”
