Date Published: 09/21/09

Guardian reporter killed

Tragedy struck the quiet neighbourhood of Odukoya Estate in Akowonjo-Egbeda, Lagos, Sunday morning, when armed men shot The Guardian’s political correspondent, Bayo Ohu, in his home.

Although he was immediately taken to the Crystal Specialist Hospital on Akowonjo Road, his bullet-ridden body was rejected after the hospital’s demand for a police report was not met. Mr. Ohu was then rushed to the General Hospital, Ikeja, where he was pronounced dead.

A hail of bullets

According to witnesses, men dressed in white jalabia (flowing gowns) and wearing caps, arrived in a white Toyota camry at 6.53am, and stormed Mr. Ohu’s residence. When they eventually found him with a wrapper tied around his waist, one of the armed men began to shoot at him. The assailants allegedly followed him as he stumbled back and kept pumping bullets into him.

Neighbours say during this attack, the deceased’s wife, Ochuko, had gone to church with her sister who lived in with them, leaving the late Ohu, his daughters and one other relative at home. None of them was however around the compound when the killers entered.

A cry for help

According to his daughter, 15-year-old Omolara Ohu, “We were coming from where we had gone to fetch water, when we heard the gun-shots and ran back. Later, we came to the compound and found blood everywhere. The neighbours now came and brought out his body. There was blood everywhere,” she said, crying.

She said a neighbour who saw the shooting told her that the initial hail of bullets left Ohu shouting: “E gba mi o! E gba mi o! (Please save me, please save me). Afterwards, she said one of the armed men was heard saying: “Olori buruku yen ti lo” (That idiot is gone).

Miss Patience, the late journalist’s sister said nothing was taken apart from his laptop and his cell phone.

“They took the laptop he uses at home, but they left his office laptop and midget recorder,” she said.

Police confused

Meanwhile, the police’s public relations officer, Frank Mba, who ealier told reporters that the case was one of “suspected murder” later urged them to disregard his earlier assertion, because when the white Toyota Camry allegedly used in the attack was found, the case became that of armed robbery.

“Whether this is a classical case of murder or not, this is tight, because there are no clear leads, and everything seems muddled up, with so many people coming and touching the walls,” he said.

However, he later told pressmen that, “Given the latest information before us, the case is one of armed robbery, because the men came in, made away with his (Mr. Ohu’s) laptop and his cell phones, and were armed. However, we are leaving our options open.”

A harmless person

The deputy editor-in-chief and editor of The Guardian, Debo Adesina, who had earlier gone to the morgue of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos to identify the deceased, said Bayo Ohu was a “very harmless” person.

“What would warrant this? Bayo was very harmless. But as the police have said, they will carry out their own investigation, while we will report what we have seen now,” Adesina said.

Until his untimely death, Mr. Ohu was an assistant political editor at The Guardian. He is survived by an aged father, siblings, his wife, Ochuko, and five daughters.