- Demands public inquiry on police investigation
A United Kingdom based Nigerian, Augusta Osaigbevo, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, over the allegation of attempted assassination on her elder sister, Mrs. Gladys Osaigbevo-Omon, leveled against her by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Imohimi Edgar.
Augusta has urged the IGP to probe how the police in Lagos, under Edgar, carried out their investigations and concluded on her complicity in the alleged crime, saying a public inquiry would reveal the truth behind the matter.
She also wondered how the Lagos police reached such a conclusion in their investigations, when they had yet to contact or even interrogate her.
Augusta said in her three-page petition to the IGP obtained by our correspondent that the shoddy manner of investigations by the Lagos police had made it impossible for them to have any credible evidence to back the allegations made against her by the suspects, her elder sister and the Lagos police commissioner.
The Lagos Police boss had, during a parade of two men, Osaro Okonobom and Lucky Oboh, at the state Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, last week, over the alleged crime, said the suspects had confessed that Augusta contracted them to assassinate Madam Osaigbevo-Omon.
The police commissioner had claimed that the two suspects, who were arrested on July 26, 2018, planned to make the attempt on the life of Gladys on the instruction of her younger sister, Augusta Osaigbevo.
During the parade of the suspects, the police boss also alleged that Madam Gladys fell out with Augusta, who lives in the United Kingdom, over a case of human trafficking, prompting her to contract her nephew, Okonobom, to kill Gladys.
Okonobom reportedly sought the help of his friend, Oboh, who in turn recruited two men to carry out the mission.
But the UK-based Augusta in a strongly worded petition to the IGP, said although she and the prime suspect, Okonobom, were cousins, the allegations of attempted assassination on Gladys made against her by the two suspects, her elder sister and the Lagos police commissioner were a figment of their imagination.
She said all the allegations were nothing but tissues of lies concocted by the suspects, Madam Gladys and the police to tarnish her image in the UK, where she’s a citizen, for withdrawing the financial assistance she had offered her importunate relations in the past years.
Augusta argued that the conclusion of the police on the matter had left so much to be desired as it had shown that investigations of the allegations had been done in a shoddy and improper manner.
She said since the conclusion of a proper investigation should necessarily be based on evidence, the police should provide the evidence of the N500,000 she allegedly paid the suspects as part payment for the alleged crime, which they claimed she had promised to pay them a total of N4million for, as well as the means through which she communicated with the suspects.
She said, “I want to also say here, without fear of any contradiction that all the allegations made against me by the Lagos State police commissioner; the prime suspect, Okonobom and Madam Gladys are farther from the truth. These are just a figment of the imaginations of the police commissioner; the prime suspect, Okonobom and Madam Gladys.
“I have never at any point in time, place or through any means of communication contracted either the suspects or any other person or group of persons to harm, kidnap or kill Madam Gladys or any other person, for that matter. I’ve lived in the United Kingdom for more than 20 years with my husband and children. In the past 22 years, I’ve only visited Nigeria twice.
“There are so many questions begging to be answered regarding this monstrous allegation of attempted assassination leveled against me by people who are supposed to be my own blood relations, my cousin and my elder sister.”
Augusta stressed that the allegation of attempted assassination on her own elder sister, Madam Gladys was a result of gang-up against her and plans by her older siblings and other family members to deal with her for stopping to send them money from abroad, a gesture she said she had extended to them for so many years until recently.
She said, “My determination to stop sending money is the reason they ganged up against me; the same reason they plotted the human trafficking allegation six years ago. It was a collective effort to tarnish my image in the UK.
“They give me terms on how to support them and if I don’t do their bidding, I’m a bad person; because I’m not doing my brother’s bidding, he’s not supporting me.”
Augusta, who claimed to have been emotionally and psychologically affected by the allegation against her, therefore, appealed to the IGP to institute a probe and a public inquiry into how the Lagos State Commissioner of Police “undertook his investigation of the allegation of attempted assassination against me and reached a conclusion, because all we’ve read in the media is Osaro said this and said that. The police have not been able to bring out any credible evidence to back their claims against my
person.
“To conclude, I’m innocent of all the allegations. If the police claim I have a hand in the plot, I would want them to present the evidence to the IGP in Abuja or I want them to open a public inquiry and demonstrate to Nigerians how, because all we are reading in the papers is just what the police are saying, what Gladys is saying and what Osaro is saying. We are not seeing the evidence. I want to see the evidence, Nigerians want to see the
evidence.”
