Gbenga Omotoso, a Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, has said that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has sent a team of senior officials to commiserate with the family of Bamise Ayanwola.
Mr Omotoso, speaking on Arise TV’s The Morning Show on Wednesday, said the governor intentionally did not publicise the visit by the government officials.
The deceased was declared missing and her body found days after boarding a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in the Lekki area of Lagos.
The bus driver, Andrew Nice, allegedly took to his heels after the incident but was arrested by the police in Ogun State.
“It is not everything that the government does that they will begin to come on television and begin to announce. I’m telling you authoritatively that Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor, has spoken about this matter three times…,” said Mr Omotoso.
“He has spoken to the parents, he sent a team, a big team of senior officials to the family but we do not feel that this is something that we make political gain out of.
Shortly after the demise of Ms Ayanwola, some reports that surfaced online said the governor “snubbed” the family and aborted his planned condolence visit on short notice.
Mr Omotoso said that the “people who are going there to cry who belong to another party, going there to cry and making a show of it, they are not doing us any good, they are not doing the society any good too.”
He said Mr Sanwo-Olu called the deceased’s parents to express condolence on the loss of their 22-year-old daughter.
“He calmed them down and prayed for them and he told them how badly he felt as a parent about it,” Mr Omotoso said.
The family’s lawyer, Ayo Ademiluyi, confirmed the visitation by the top officials from the transport ministry. He, however, said the governor still needed to make a physical presence at the deceased’s residence.
Mr Ademiluyi alleged that the police “wants to rush us into a fast autopsy tomorrow and we have rejected it flatly.”
He said the family wants the autopsy done by an independent pathologist.
Contacted, the police spokesperson in Lagos, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said he doesn’t want to comment on the matter as the case is still in court.
The driver was arraigned on Friday at a magistrate court in Yaba for the murder and rape of Ms Ayanwola.