Osun police arrest four over shooting of Nigerian Compass’ MD

Osun State Police Command has arrested four suspects in connection with the Monday night attack on the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Nigerian Compass newspaper and The Westerner magazine, Mr. Sina Kawonise.

A statement by the Command's Public Relations Officer, Mrs Folashade Odoro entitled “Armed Robbery/Arrest of Armed Suspect” and made available to newsmen at Osogbo yesterday said police patrol teams with joint effort of military personnel combed the bushes around the scene of the attack and arrested four hoodlums.

According to the police, items recovered from the suspects include one dane gun, four handsets and fifty-eight thousand Naira (N58,000).

It would be recalled that Kawonise who is also the immediate past Commissioner for Information and Orientation in Ogun State was attacked and shot Monday night while returning from Akwa, Anambra State where he had gone to present a keynote Adress at the 17th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Anthropological and Sociologist Award.

The Police, however, claimed that the victim, who were travelling in a GMC Savana Bus with Reg. No. Abuja BR 761 KUJ was attacked along Owena/Ilesa road, while the three armed escort men in the bus returned fire.

However, during the attack, the police also stated that “the following persons were injured. i.e. Kawonise Sina, Editor-in-Chief Nigerian Compass and former Ogun State Commissioner for Information; Samsudeen Hammed (NYSC); Yusuf Yaya from Adamawa State; Sunday Ayo from Osun State; and  Cpl Kowei Ebidubagha from Ogun State”.

Meanwhile, former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has commiserated with the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the Western Publishing Company Limited, publishers of the Nigerian Compass and Westerner, Mr. Sina Kawonise, who was attacked and injured by gunmen.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Emeka Obasi, Kalu described the attack on Kawonise as a sad development.

"I wish him quick recovery and not only urge the police to bring the hoodlums to book but also that the government should as a matter of urgency find a lasting solution to the issue of insecurity in the country."