Lagos CDHR Makes Demands On Unwarranted Death Of Oluwabamishe Ayanwole

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Lagos State branch has called for justice for  22-year old late Miss Oluwabamishe Ayanwole who was brutally murdered in a Lagos State-owned  BRT bus which she boarded from Ajah en route Oshodi in February 2022.

The group says it has been following the incidence relating to the unwarranted death closely.

This is contained in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Kehinde Adeoye, Comrade Mufutau  Bello and Comrade 'Toyin Adetunji, CDHR Lagos State Chairman, State Secretary and PRO respectively.

According to the statement, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command has addressed the press earlier and confirmed that the BRT bus driver - the murder suspect -  has been apprehended and has confessed to having committed the crime.

However, CDHR then wonders why the Lagos State Government, in what appears to be a twist of event, is putting up a defence in support of the BRT murder suspect.

The group is therefore asking: “Wouldn't the government have taken a stiff stand if the murder suspect were not an employee of the BRT?  Could it be true that Lagos State “Government wants Lagosians and indeed the whole world to believe that it was a case of hijack even after the murder suspect has confessed to having committed the crime?

“Why should a prime suspect in a murder case of this magnitude be handed over to the government by the security agencies simply because he is an employee of BRT -  an agency of the State Government?

CDHR, therefore, demands that these and other related questions should be answered by the State Government so as not to make the general public particularly Lagosians believe that there is complicity in this murder case on the part of the State Government.

CDHR stated further that according to Section 14B of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: ''THE SECURITY AND WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE SHALL BE THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT.'' They asked, “If the security of the people cannot be guaranteed and in a clear case of murderous act as that of Late Bamishe Ayanwole in a BRT bus, and justice cannot be done, where then lies the primary purpose of government?”

In addition, Right To Life is a fundamental right as enshrined in Chapter 4,  Section 33, Subsection 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, CDHR stated.

The group vowed that CDHR  shall continue to monitor the case until Justice is not only done but also seen to have been done.