His name was Olu Onagoruwa, SAN. A versatile Activist, Human Rights Activist who later became Abacha’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General. His best friend, Gani Fawehinmi warned him publicly not to take the appointment but he he thought otherwise, afterall, they were both SANs. But one day, Abacha introduced some heinous decrees against human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of association, this he did without the Ministry of Justice. This angered Onagoruwa and he did a World Press Conference to attack Abacha…..in the Conference, he described the decree as “Obnoxious laws which has taken away our liberty”. And he resigned publicly! Whaaaaaaat?????? To Abacha????
Abacha thought k.lling Onagoruwa would be too mild a punishment for such audacity. So be removed his only begotten son from the surface of the planet through some of his bull£ts and dumped him inside a drainage.
Onagoruwa lost everything about his health from that moment and never recovered until he eventually passed away too. But before then, he wrote a sorrowful memoirs which was captured by the Tribune Newspapers of July 23, 2017….
Here is it
“GENERAL Abacha was not happy with my departure from his government. He felt I was arrogant and over-bearing. News started to get to me that I was in danger and that I should be very careful. First and foremost I was very sure that I had not offended him in any way. Even though he went to investigate my account in the Justice Ministry he could find nothing against me. So personally and officially, I was clean before him; so what other offences could he be looking for? My friends in govermnent told me he had assured them that I should suffer some pains which I could never forget. Anyway, he was the goyernment and so I started to bid farewell to my wife (this was at a time of many unexplained murders -Chief Alfred Rewane, Mrs Suliat Adedeji, Rear Admiral Olu Omotehinwa, Admiral Tunde Elegbede). My wife would assure me that we should continue to pray.
“Little did we realise that he would pounce on our son, Oluwatoyin, who qualified as a lawyer in 1995. Toyin was very dear to us. He was a loving child; he was palpably cheerful and kind. He had one Igbo boy, Victor, as his friend. They were so close that the boy looked very much like part of our family. When this boy could not pay his school fees, I had to pay. On the day of his wedding, my wife and I stood in as his parents. We do not know how this boy got into the SSS (State Security Service) camp and these operatives used him against us. He told them Toyin’s movement in the evenings, particularly to his Fiancee’s house; and he told them the address of the house. Toyin’s Fiancee was Prof. & Mrs. Abiola Ojo’s daughter.
Victor was a very useful target; always collecting money from the SSS boys. So when mention was made about the Onagoruwas, he made himself conveniently available. But his role in Toyin’s murder, although very peripheral, was very effective. One day, when they were to capture Toyin, Victor phoned and we got the phone call at a time when Toyin had just been attacked. We dismissed the whole thing and never connected him to this evil. However, on the day that they felled Toyin, Victor phoned and he was told that some people had held Toyin down outside. He then told them to call me to the line. Before I could get to the phone, he cut off.
“At this very time, the assailants were taking Toyin away and thereafter shot him. I did not know what was happening as I was woken from deep sleep. When we later got Toyin to the hospital and they phoned Victor, he told them he would not come immediately as his car was in some predicament. We never saw Victor until some days later.
We later got to know that the group of SSS boys got all the information they needed about ‘Toytn through Victor: The fact that he had just qualified as a lawyer, his Fiancee’s place and name. That was why that fateful night they first looked for him at the Fiancee’s house. They found him there but he did not know that they were looking for him. He was in fact warning his Father-in-Law to be very careful that night.
“On 18th December 1996, the murderers struck. As Toyin was riding into the compound, he was held incommunicado. Our own security man had left the door unlocked as he normally did and he ran away, while Toyin was held by these assassins who occupied the compound. I was only woken up after they had finished their operations. They took Toyin outside into the main street, where he had a very big fight with them. They later shot him in the back and fled. By the time I woke up, Toytn had been shot and was in the throes of death. His death was unbearable to me.
Was I dreaming?
Who killed Toyin?
What did he do wrong?
“All these questions filled our mouths.
We did not connect this with the government at all. Why should a government do this? Why?
Soon after this tragic event, the Head of State wrote me a letter expressing his heartfelt sympathy. He assured me that the culprits would be arrested and they would face the law because this type of crime should not take place in this country. He sent delegates to me, one led by his deputy, General Oladipo Diya: and another led by Chief Michael Agbamuche, who succeeded me as Minister of Justice and Attorney General. All expressed the good wishes of the Head of State to me and my family. I grabbed at the letter which had been written to me and re-assured myself that this evil act could not proceed from a Head of State whom I had served faithfully and whose letter confirmed this.
“That dastardly night of Toyin’s murder, some sharp-witted men of my family had gotten the number of the car, which the murderers brought and had written it down. They got an artist to sketch the faces of the assailants.
On February 3, 1997, I wrote a reply to the Head of State’s condolence letter. I apologised about the delay in replying to his letter. I told him of the pulvertsing effect which Toyin’s killing had on us in the family and we thanked him for his warmth, kindness and gift. We told him that his promise to track down the perpetrators of the hideous crime was heart-lifting and encouraging. We then told the Head of State that we had passed some useful information to the police, including the particulars of the car used for the murder.
“I gave the Head of State the particulars. It was a white car, a Mercedes Benz 230E; bearing registration plate number “Lagos BB-844-SMK.” This is a common number. And at its back, on the right, the car had a Deutschmark sticker. I also informed the Head of State that when the police visited Shomolu Local Government (where the car was registered), they were informed by the authorities that the number Lagos BB-844-SMK was registered for a Honda car owned by a Colonel in the Nigerian Army. The last information that we had was that the vehicle was seen on its way to Abuja. Despite this letter and the particulars supplied, Abacha gave no reply. In the meantime, General Abacha ordered that these two vehicles -the Mercedes Benz and the Honda- should be hidden in the Aso Rock Villa. The owner of these vehicles was Colonel -. now Brigadier-General- Laoye. This came to surface when the Oputa Panel was sitting. Colonel Laoye brought the Honda car there and we told the Oputa Panel to order its seizure and to order the police to go and do their work well, but the panel refused for no tangible reason.
“Hence, the car and all those involved in Toyin’s murder have disappeared perpetually into thin air, unless God is interested in their discovery.
June 8, 1998, Abacha died in Abuja and was succeeded by General Abdulsalami Abubakar (who had served Abacha as Chief of Defence Staff). I wrote him. a letter “Sam Abacha Killed My Son, Oluwatoyin Onagoruwa” (1) and requested him to investigate Toytn’s murder. In the letter I gave the General the whole story of how Toytn was murdered.
“I told him that so far no evidence had been produced by the police; but on our own we had produced the number of the car used, the identities of those who COmmitted the murder and their pictures, all of which we had given to the police. I told him of Brigadier-General Laoye, whose Mercedes Benz car was used bearing the plate number normally worn by his Honda car. We mentioned to General Abubakar the inability of the police to investigate the Colonel. We told General Abubakar Abdulsalami that there were certain questions the police should ask the Colonel, viz: How did the number plate of his Honda car come to be used on the murder vehicle; and why the switch of the Honda number
to the murder car?
“Furthermore, I requested him to question both Alhajt Ismaila Gwarzo (Chief Security Adviser) and Major Harnza Al-Mustapha (Chief Security Officer) because they presided overAbacha’s security outfit used for committing murder.
“What was my offence against Abacha? Abacha’s contentions were three.
First, he alleged that I humiliated his government by my manner of leaving, which he considered unnecessarily arrogant.
“Second, I insisted in my dtscusston with him that it was not proper for him to succeed himself by self-succession.
“Third, I released Mr. Turner Ogboru, brother of a coup plotter, without his permission and still maintained that I was not disloyal to him….”
