The majority leader of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Yinka Mafe, has on Friday denied any link with murder suspects being held by men of Zonal Intervention Squad in Obada Oko, Abeokuta.
The lawmaker representing Sagamu 1 constituency was formally reacting to the reports published in newspapers that he was fingered by four suspected cultists arrested allegedly for murder as being their sponsor.
He expressed shock at the allegation. Mafe reiterated that he had no link whatsoever with any cultist or cult group, adding
that at no point was he invited by the police for questioning.
While challenging the police to produce the four suspects they claimed to have arrested, the lawmaker called on the Inspector-General of Police to take over the case for proper investigation.
Mafe said he wasn’t unaware of the plan by a member of the House of Representatives from the state, to muscle members of All Progressives Congress in Remo area of the state because of his governorship ambition.
The plan, Mafe alleged, was being orchestrated with the help of a top police officer in Zone II, Onikan, Lagos, who he alleged, was going to parade fake persons in the name of the suspects.
He challenged the police to charge him to court where he would have the opportunity to defend himself, instead of dropping his name in the media for political reasons.
The lawmaker said the murder he was being alleged to have sponsored occurred in Sagamu about seven years ago during a cult clash, adding that his party, All Progressives Congress, has since ensured there was peace in the area.
He said, “I was very shocked to read about the report because as an honourable man and the majority leader of Ogun State House of Assembly, I do not have a business sponsoring cultists especially at this moment when I have nothing to gain in sponsoring them.
“I am more surprised because this is coming at a time when we all know that the member of the House of Representatives from the opposition party vying for governorship seat in the state is visiting Sagamu and it is in the public domain he’s the one sponsoring the fake news against my person.
“We also know that he’s the one using the office of the AIG in Zone II and I have to put it on record that those names released by the police are not in the custody of police, it’s all lies and I know the police cannot produce the four persons.
“I was aware of the person that was reportedly killed, he was killed about seven years ago and it is in the public domain that he was killed during an infighting between cult groups and both sides recorded casualties, he was one of them.”
Source: Punch
