The investigation into the murder of Paul Abayomi Ogundeji, journalist on the privately-owned daily Thisday, and member of its editorial committee, has been handed to the judicial police, regional authorities in Lagos State said on January 20, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
The journalist was shot dead in the Dopemu district of the capital Lagos on August 17, 2008 as he was returning home in his car.
Police said that Abayomi Ogundeji was killed by armed men who blocked the road and told him to open his car door, opening fire when he refused. Local residents who witnessed the shooting said however that there was a dispute between the journalist and several police officers manning a roadblock and the officers shot him when he tried to continue his journey.
“Only a thorough and independent investigation can lift the doubts surrounding the death of Paul Abayomi Ogundeji," Paris-based RSF said. “It is essential that the killers be identified and convicted in order to protect Nigerian journalists, who are subjected to repeated violence,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
