THE MURDER OF OLAITAN OYERINDE: WHEN AND HOW ARE WE GOING TO OVERCOME?
Bamidele Aturu.
I lack words to describe my pain concerning the wicked cold blood murder of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde today in Benin by some agents of darkness. This is certainly too much of a loss for the labour movement and the civil society in general to bear. Olaitan was undoubtedly one of our very best. This is a big tragedy that will be difficult to recover from. He was a thinker and ideologue of the working people and one of the finest socialists that I have ever met. He accepted to work for Mr Adam Oshiomhole, the Governor of Edo State, as his Private Secretary based on his internationalist disposition since he hailed from Osun State. I am aware that there have been moves lately by some of the leaders of the NLC to wrest him from Edo State to help rebuild the Congress which has undoubtedly witnessed some leadership crises lately. As a matter of fact he called me to intimate me with the moves and seek my opinion. Now I can only wish that he had left Edo before the wicked assassins and their patrons struck.
Those who masterminded the killing of Olaitan are little minds who were scared of his enormous intellect and organizational acumen, both of which he marshaled in aid of the current Governor of the State. Those who kill men of ideas betray the ignorance that ideas do not die with those who propound or profess them. The ideas cherished and articulated by Olaitan remain indestructible.
The Police and other security agencies must not treat this as one of those unsolvable murders. The IGP and others must get to the root of this unacceptable and callous act of cutting down a truly promising and progressive Nigerian in his bloom for whatever reason. The concern for now is that living in Nigeria has become such a huge risk as law enforcement agents are ever incompetent to apprehend and deal with assassins that are now on the prowl. If we call on the IGP and the Commissioner of Police to resign, they will not heed the call. Our generation will be failing this country if we do not use Olaitan’s painful murder as a basis to retake this country in all sense of that word. We cannot overcome by lamenting. We must act IMMEDIATELY. The ball is in our court. I am willing to join our comrades and compatriots to do anything possible to retake this country. Enough of the nonsense.
