The assassination of the Lagos State Organising Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Toba Ajiboye, popularly known as Toba Ijaya, has renewed concerns over the violent undercurrents of motor park politics in Lagos.
According to The PUNCH, family members, colleagues, friends and supporters gathered in Fadeyi, Lagos, on Tuesday to pay their final respects to the slain union leader.
Sources close to Ajiboye alleged that investigations into the killing pointed to what appeared to be a carefully coordinated plot. They claimed that a bricklayer identified simply as Oke, who had previously worked for the 43-year-old union official, monitored his movements and supplied real-time information to the gunmen who later ambushed and killed him along the Ikorodu Road corridor.
One of the sources, described as a close associate of the deceased, alleged that Oke had earned Ajiboye’s trust after being employed for construction work but later betrayed that trust by tracking his movements and relaying his whereabouts to the attackers.
The source further claimed that on the day of the incident, Ajiboye had gone to visit some elderly people and parked his vehicle outside.
According to the source, Oke allegedly took photographs of the front and rear of the vehicle and forwarded them to individuals who were waiting along the expressway, thereby helping them monitor Ajiboye’s movements before the attack.
“He also sent a voice note informing them that Toba was alone with his driver and would soon come out. Toba came out and even gave him N5,000, not knowing that he was there to monitor him,” the source said.
He further claimed that detectives later arrested Oke and his wife.
“The bricklayer was arrested the following night. That was when we learnt what happened. They also identified another person called Ogere, who participated, but he has fled,” the source added.
Saturday PUNCH further learnt that another suspect, identified simply as Suko and alleged to have financed parts of the operation, had reportedly fled Nigeria.
The newspaper also reported that a voice note obtained from one of the sources appeared to capture a conversation in which an unidentified caller informed another person that Ajiboye was about to leave the location he had visited.
According to the report, the recording suggested that Ajiboye’s movements were being closely monitored until shortly before he was ambushed and killed.