…The Effort I Made In Finding His Killers During My Tenure – Fashola at public presentation of 50 World Editors
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, this book presentation to honour the memory of Dimgba Igwe gives me mixed feelings.
First, I am delighted that we have not forgotten him so soon, and for that I commend not only his immediate family but also his extended family of which Mike Awoyinfa must uncontestably stand as patriarch.
We lost Dimgba just as I was getting to know him better. I know him for his work and commentaries as a journalist and it was hard to ignore such a prolific writer and consummate professional.
I met him when I accepted a proposal for him and Mike to write my biography which is still in the works as Mike has soldiered on without him.
To put it simply, I formed the impression from our interviews for the book, that Dimgba was just a good man. That is what we lost; A very Good man, and no words will ever be enough to replace the sense of loss that the Igwe family must feel.
As delighted as I am that we gather to honour his memory, I am saddened that we have not done our duty to Dimgba.
Yes Dimgba is gone, we cannot bring him back, but we owe ourselves and him a duty to find out how and why he died.
Yes we know he was knocked down by a motorist, but was it an accident or was he deliberately run over?
We must find out.
During my tenure as Governor, this was a case file I directed should not be closed at our monthly security meetings.
A car that knocks a person down will leave some evidence, a dent, a broken part, some paint work and some other clues.
I directed the Police then to go round every mechanic in the neighbourhood at the time to see if anybody recently came to do bodywork repair to his or her car in the hope that the car involved belonged to somebody in the community.
Regrettably nothing turned up.
We sent out people to see if in the commotion and possible distraction that followed the incident, somebody had the presence of mind to take the registration number of the vehicle but nothing has turned up.
The duty we owe Dimgba is to keep probing in the hope that somebody saw something. This is how crimes are solved.
Today, I use this platform to please urge anybody who may have seen something on that day to please say something. It might be useful to the police.
The duty we owe Dimgba is to ensure that all of us affix our vehicle registration plates to our cars and that nobody is permitted to drive an unregistered or unlicensed vehicle in any part of our country.
If we refuse to do this, we simply help people to remain anonymous and make investigation difficult for law enforcement.
I think I should mention that during my tenure of service we enunciated a policy of temporary vehicle registration for vehicles just being cleared from the ports before full registration as is being done in other countries.
The duty we owe Dimgba is to be more vigilant and observant about developments around us.
I believe that if we were, we would have seen something, a car description, a colour, a license number or some other clue.
That help investigators solve difficult cases.
The duty we owe Dimgba is to solve the mystery of his death by finding the driver of the car.