ASSASSINS MURDER UNILAG'S SECURITY CHIEF AT BEER PARLOUR.

University of Lagos is currently mourning a high ranking security official who was assassinated on Friday in a beer parlour at Akoka.

Read more report from Punch after the cut.

Suspected assassins have killed the Head of Operations, Security Unit, University of Lagos, Mr. Sunday Adejumo. The 50-year-old was shot dead at a beer parlour on Oyenuga Street in the Akoka area of Lagos on Friday evening.

Our correspondent learnt that Adejumo on the fateful night was in the joint with three of his friends when some strange faces stormed the pub. They were said to have headed straight for their target where he sat and hit him in the chest, before firing shots at him. The gunshots were said to have caused confusion in the area. 

PUNCH Metro learnt that the deceased died some minutes later because he could not get help on time. When our correspondent visited Akoka on Saturday, he observed that the area was quiet, while the beer parlour was locked. A resident, who did not identify himself, said the owner of the drinking house had been arrested and was being interrogated at the Bariga Police Station. He said, "The incident happened around 8.30pm on Friday. We suddenly heard gunshots and we all rushed into our different houses because we did not know what exactly happened. "It was later we learnt that one of those in the beer parlour was killed."It was not a robbery because they did not steal anything or injure anybody else. Immediately they killed him, they left."

A source, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that Adejumo might have been killed by suspected cultists. He said, "When the gang got in, they went to where he was sitting. They had different weapons, ranging from cutlasses to guns. "One of them went to him, hit him in the chest and he fell down. He then brought out a gun and shot him point blank. "On the table where he was drinking with his friends were a pay slip, his ATM cards and his car key." 

Our correspondent learnt from another source that the men wanted to go away with the deceased's ash coloured Pathfinder, marked, Lagos APP 404 CM, but could not. "We don't know exactly what their intention was. But there were blood stains on the car and the car key also had blood stains. We suspected they wanted to drive it away, but abandoned it when they saw it was not responding," he said. 

Another police source told PUNCH Metro that the corpse of the deceased was taken to the police station late in the night from where it was taken to the Yaba mortuary. It was learnt that Adejomo's car and that of one of his friends with whom he went to the pub, were taken away by the police. 

Our correspondent gathered that his three friends were also being interrogated. A source said, "Since he had been going out to drink, he had never gone out with these friends. So, they are also suspects. Although one of them claimed to be injured during the incident, there may be more to it than meets the eye." 

The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lelma Kolle, confirmed the incident. He added that the Bariga Divisional Police Officer led his men to the scene where they found the deceased in a pool of blood. He said, "Investigations revealed that the man parked his car a distance away from where he was drinking. The police also discovered that there was a blood stain on the car and the car key was found within the vicinity, also with blood stains. This can only mean that after they killed him, they attempted to go away with his car. They actually succeeded in opening the car because there were blood stains on the car seat. But the car did not move because of the security system in it. 

"The owner of the bar has been arrested and he has made statements. We cannot categorically say whether this was a robbery or an assassination plot. The matter is still under investigation."
Our correspondent called UNILAG, and a former registrar of the institution, Mr. Olu Sodimu, said the school would call back. 

However, an official of the university in the information department confirmed the shooting. 

The official, who pleaded anonymity, said, "We heard that he went to a party with some of his friends and there were gunshots. He was one of the people hit during the incident. That was what we heard. We are not aware that he died. I am just hearing that from you and I will have to confirm that information by making calls."

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ VERDANT STORIES SECTION...FORBIDDEN >>>>> Garba was the only one of his father's twelve sons who agreed to get an education in his town. His mum was the last of 4 wives and so encouraged him to go and learn the white man's way. "I have heard that when you go to that school in the town, you will never have to work in the farm or roam about with cattle. You will grow wise and work in the white man's place," his mother had said. His father had been skeptic and suspicious of the Whiteman. The Whiteman had come to Dogongari, Garba's village and had taken residence there. And because Garba's father, Dandogo was the village head. the Whiteman became his friend. Once, the Whiteman had given him some coloured water from a bottle to drink. He had observed the Whiteman drinking it and when the Whiteman had offered him, he drank. It tasted sharp yet inviting. He was soon enjoying it and before long, he had begun to talk too much and laughing. His chiefs had been alarmed. Dandogo was even telling the Whiteman how he intended to• many a fifth wife. His chiefs were surprised. No man spoke about such things in public. They suspected that the Whiteman had put something in the drink. What kind of a golden-coloured drink was it anyway? When Dandogo got up, he staggered and almost fell had his chiefs not held him. Then he began to talk all sorts ofrubbish, his eyes rolled up. They took him home. They put him in bed and his wives waited upon him. He slept for long and only woke up at noon. Later when his subjects told him what had happened, he refused to accept. He could not recall ever saying anything or how he got home. But of course he remembered he had been drinking with the Whiteman. Then he reasoned that the Whiteman must have given him something bad to drink that he had lost his senses. When the Whiteman was asked what it was he gave the head-chief, he said it was just rum. Ever since, Dandogo had been wary of him and his agents. Now, the same man had told him of his school in town and said Dandogo should bring some of his children to the school. At first he had refused, suspecting that the Whiteman wanted to kidnap them. "If he runs away with our children, where do we know he came from that we will go and look for him?" Dandogo said to his chiefs. But the Whiteman was persistent, telling him of the benefits. Still Dandogo would not accept. Instead, he nominated other people's children and hid his own. The children that went to town to the Whiteman's school came to the village three times a year and they had begun to understand the Whiteman's language and were able to write like the Whiteman on chalk slates. They were different from the other children. "Well, he has not kidnapped the children but only made them be like him," Dandogo said one day when the Whiteman came to urge him to bring his children to the school. Now, based on what he had told his children about the Whiteman's trick to kidnap them, none of his children wanted to go to the school. But Garba who was only seven years had his mother to encourage him. And that was how Garba got the chance to go to school. "Now listen, Garba," his father said. "When you go to the Whiteman's school, be careful, don't drink any coloured water because it will make you forget yourself, don't do the Whiteman's religion and don't let him deceive you." "Yes, father," Garba said. His mother put a hand on his head. "Always be a good boy. Never ever fight, learn the Whiteman's way very well. It is an easy way to be rich without hard work," she said. The news had gone round Dogongari that one of Dandogo, the village head's sons was going to the Whiteman's school. "Your son could be a doctor, a lawyer, a government official, an engineer or anything he's good at as he grows," the Whiteman said to Dandogo on the day the school children were to depart the village. Dandogo did not know what the Whiteman meant. "Just don't deceive my son and don't make him do your religion,- Dandogo said through the interpreter as usual. Garba was dressed in a white shirt and brown Khaki shorts that the Whiteman had given to him that early morning. He looked smart in it. His mother was crying that he was leaving. The Whiteman took the children in a rickety mammy wagon and drove down the rough road out of Dogongari. The other children ran after the wagon until it was gone.