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Teslim Folarin,
Senate majority leader, and three other suspects remanded in prison
over the alleged killing of Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo), factional
leader of the National Union of Road Transport Worker (NURTW), applied
for bail at an Oyo state High Court on Thursday.

An Oyo state chief
magistrate, Shakirat Badrudeen, ordered the four men to be remanded in
prison custody until January 14 when their case would be reopened for
mention.

They were arraigned
on Tuesday on a two-count charge of felony (conspiracy to murder) and
murder of Mr Salako who was gruesomely killed after the local
government congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Ona Ara,
Oyo state, last Thursday.

Though the
magistrate agreed with the argument of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, former
president of the Nigerian Bar Association who led the team of lawyers
defending Mr Folarin and others, that the court lacks the jurisdiction
to hear criminal matters, Ms Badrudeen, still adjourned the case till
January 14, for mention.

The other accused persons are Ramoni Jayeola Bankole, Olaide Raji and Raimi Ismaila.

Filing the bail
application on Thursday, Mr Akeredolu, supported the documents with a
44-page affidavit. In the application tagged M/8/2011, the applicants
joined the state attorney general and the state commissioner of police.

For the whole of
Wednesday, Mr Akeredolu and his team had brain-stormed on the
modalities to hasten the bail of the senate leader, who had been in
custody since Monday when he honoured the police invitation to come and
write his statement on the death of Mr Salako.

The Agodi prison,
where the accused were detained, was still bustling yesterday with Mr
Folarin’s sympathizers. It appeared as though the senate leader had the
support of prominent Ibadan political and business leaders. Prisons
officials faced a heavy volume of visitors calling at the prison
throughout the day to see the politician.

Baba Adisa Bolanta,
Oyo State commissioner of police, has, however hinted that more people
will be declared wanted by the police today (Friday) over Mr Salako’s
death.

Mr Bolanta, who
disclosed this to journalists in Ibadan on Thursday, said the police
are yet to close the case on the murder as many other suspects are yet
to be apprehended. He opined that the command should be commended for
its efforts in unraveling the mystery behind the killing of the
unionist in the past week

Police deny bias charges

In another
development, Lekan Balogun, leader of the opposition against the state
governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, announced that he planned to hold a rally
on January 15 to push for the deployment of the commissioner of the
police from Oyo State. Mr Balogun accused Mr Bolanta of corruption and
bias in the murder case of Mr Salako. He said he would ensure that the
police commissioner was transferred from the state to allow for peace.
Denying the allegation of bias against Mr Folarin, the police boss said
the force established a case against him before arraigning him and
three others last Tuesday.

Saying he had given
the Ibadan high chief respect as a senior citizen and a former
lawmaker, he said, “We will not delay in dealing with him [Mr Balogun]
according to the law if he tries to incite the public against the
police.”

Mr Bolanta said
that none of the cases of crime reported since he took over his post in
Ibadan had gone uninvestigated, and that everything he did as police
chief was done with the consciousness that he would give account one
day “where the whole SANs in the world would not be able to defend me.”

He said
investigations conducted so far have shown that the Senate leader and
other accused persons were present at the scene of the incident. He
said the four police officers attached to the senate leader who were
also arrested and detained shortly after the killing of Mr Salako, are
assisting the police in their investigation of the matter.

He also said that Mukaila Lamidi (aka Auxiliary), Mr Salako’s
deputy, was interrogated at the Iyaganku Police station yesterday over
his alleged involvement in the vandalism of a filling station belonging
to Lateef Akinsola Oloruntoki (aka Tokyo), the state chairman of the
NURTW.