How Orogun, GTBank boss in Liberia, was allegedly killed …Family cries for justice

Although he was buried last Friday, anguish and heartache have remained the twin companions of the Orogun family, whose illustrious son recently lost his life in Monrovia, Liberia, in circumstances that have remained controversial.

The incident has since devastated his wife and children who witnessed the gruesome exit of the former managing director of the GTBank Plc in Liberia.Contrary to the claim by the suspects in Liberia that Dan’s death was purely boat accident, the Oregun family, crying for justice, points finger at a wealthy Liberian businessman, George Kailondo.

Speaking with journalists on circumstances that led to Dan’s tragic end, Felix Orogun, an elder brother of the deceased, said from independent investigation carried out by the family when its delegation got to Liberia, and the eyewitness account, the events that led to Dan’s demise were orchestrated and executed by Kailondo.

The account as given by the family
On that fateful day, January 24, 2016, George Kailondo invited Dan Orogun and the family for dinner. Orogun took his wife and children home after Sunday Church service. On getting home he received three phone calls in quick succession from Kailondo on his earlier invitation to him and the family. Dan reluctantly told the wife of the need to honour the invitation from a major customer of the bank. You will wonder why reluctantly? Because Dan usually does not like missing any football match involving Arsenal, who were to play that afternoon with Chelsea. He now phoned a friend to keep him informed of developments in the match. He now took a bottle of wine and some soft drinks. No food was taken along because he was observing a fast as part of the Church programme of 21 days fasting.

On getting to the house of his host, he parked his vehicle. The man offered them drink, but Dan went into his vehicle and brought a bottle of the drink he brought from home. The host now said they should go for a boat ride and return for dinner. He took them to the Boat. They all entered not knowing that there was no life jacket. At this stage you want to know how many people were in the boat: Dan, wife, 3 children, Kailondo, and two others. A diver, named Michael was also following them on Jet Skii. Kailondo was in charge of the steering. Before they set out on the calm river, Isioma, Dan’s wife, asked for safety procedure and life jackets, she was told that there were no life jackets but was assured that there was no problem and that experienced divers were with them. It was too late for them to get out of the boat because as soon as she raised her question about life jacket Kailondo quickly moved the boat from the point of anchor. While Michael the diver was displaying some acrobatics as he followed the boat with the Jet Skii.

While on the Calm River, they got to a point when Kailondo suggested that they should ride into the high sea. But Isioma and Dan rejected the idea. They then stopped, relaxed and were chatting while Dan was responding to news on the football game going on through his phone. Music was going on in the boat. Dan was on the back seat. Kailondo took a bottle of whisky, emptied part of it into Dan’s cup. Dan saw it, challenged him by asking whether he has forgotten that the cup was his and did not drink from the cup anymore. Isioma ensured that Dan did not drink from the cup again. While everyone was relaxed Kailondo was watching Dan and dancing. Then very suddenly and unexpectedly, Kailondo started the engine with very high speed and made an almost 360 degree turn anti-clock wise with the boat. The children and Isioma fell inside the boat as they lost balance, while Dan was thrown inside the river. Michael, the diver that was following the boat on Jet Skii was suddenly no longer in sight. Surprisingly also, the young men that were sitting on the nose of the boat did not fall into the river. It shows they were expecting such a move.

Instead of Kailondo to stop, he rode away for few minutes while Isioma and children were screaming for him to go and get their father. He reluctantly turned the boat to go and meet Dan, and then put-off the engine midway. In the meantime, Dan was swimming towards the boat. Isioma was fighting hard to prevent the children from jumping into the river because they wanted to go and rescue their father. Isioma cried and pleaded with Kailondo to go and assist her husband while the children were crying. She also pleaded with the two young men who were sitting on the nose of the boat to throw the Rescue Rope to her husband but they refused and suddenly claimed that they could not swim though Kailondo introduced them at the onset as divers. All this while Michael, the diver who was following the boat with Jet Skii was not in sight. The wife started calling for help with her phone when she saw the way things were going.

Kailondo removed his shirt, jumped into the river, swam to meet Dan who was already swimming towards the boat, held him from the back to prevent Dan from swimming towards the boat by clipping his hands to his body and the next thing they saw was that he sank into the water with Dan; stayed under water for some time and came out of the water from another side without Dan. After this, Dan was not seen again. The divers that went on the cruise with them refused to jump into the water to help Dan in spite of persistent plea from the wife. Isioma has to use phone to mobilise help from outside to help search for her husband. When Kailondo was challenged, he claimed that a force pulled Dan down and he saw blood and the river was boiling so he left Dan and escaped. He claimed it was witchcraft and that Dan was gone.

The forgoing is the summary of the sequence of events that led to the death of our son Daniel Orogun. As you read this report some questions should come to your mind. Why did Kailondo start the engine of the boat suddenly and move at a very high speed to turn 360 degrees anti-clock wise? Why did he jump into the water seeing that Dan was swimming towards the boat and not throw the rope to Dan instead? Where was Michael the diver who was following the boat earlier with Jet Skii and doing acrobatic display? Why was it that no force in the river could pull Dan while he was swimming towards the boat until Kailondo got to him and held Dan from the back with his hands clipped to his body to prevent him from further swimming? Did Dan drown by accident?

Orogun family’s position

Kailondo did not know from the onset that Dan was a good swimmer. This fact was what complicated his plan of killing Dan and his entire family and made his intention of inviting the whole family clear. Another thing that he did not know about Dan was the fact that Dan did not drink the whisky he poured into his cup to get him drunk. His plan was to get him drunk on board before manipulating the boat in such a way unexpectedly to ensure that he fell into the river. The phone calls by Isioma to mobilise urgent external help made Kailondo to jump into the water in order to ensure that Dan got drown before any help could come. The sudden disappearance of Michael, the diver, was to enable him to be under water to act as the force under the water.
Kailondo did not act alone in the MURDER of Dan Orogun. He had an accomplice in Michael, the diver that suddenly disappeared. Michael was the force that pulled Dan from under the water while Kailondo held him from the back with his two hands clipped to his body to prevent Dan from struggling and swimming. It was therefore, very important that he descended into the water with Dan. He left him after he had accomplished his mission. It is of note that shortly after Kailondo came out of the water that Michael also appeared. This was not a coincidence. It was an act of divine intervention that made Kailondo not to wipe out the whole family.

We are aware that George Kailondo has been sponsoring all the lies that were being fed to the Liberian Press. I must put on record unequivocally that, Daniel Orogun knew how to swim; Daniel did not go to Kailondo’s house to celebrate any wedding anniversary; Kailondo was the one that invited Dan and family for hosting; Michael, the diver was an accomplice to Kailondo in the murder of our illustrious son, Daniel Orogun.

You may want to know why Kailondo turned the boat 360 degrees anti-clock wise, if he had turned it clock-wise Dan would have been flung against a pole in the rear part of the boat which would have prevented him from falling from the boat into the river. You may also want to know that in his desperation to cover up his evil, he has gone to put life jackets in the boat, though none was in the boat for rescue team to use on day of the incident. Why the attempt at cover up if he has nothing to hide?

The prime suspect not in police net
Asked why the prime suspect, Kailondo is currently not in police net, the Orogun family said that the man was only invited for questioning and thereafter left to go home.
“While we have not lost hope in the ability of the police in Liberia to bring the suspect to book, we urge the Director of National Police, Clarence Chris Massquol, who is also a friend of the deceased not to allow the marital ties between him and George Kailondo make him succumb to the pressure that this relationship will exert upon his office. We strongly believe that the Nigerian government will not allow his illustrious son to be so killed without bringing the perpetrators to book. We expect Nigerian government to take action, absence of a substantive ambassador in Liberia, notwithstanding. In the event every other attempt fails, we are determined to go to the international criminal Court (ICC) for Justice,” Felix Orogun said.

Orogun’s family request to GTBank
According to the family’s spokesman, “It will not be out of place if GTBank should give the four children of our deceased brother scholarship up to university level. That’s not too much to ask from an organisation that our brother was a foundation staff.”

Zebulon Agomuo