Oyekanmi had withdrawn an undisclosed amount from a Fidelity bank branch and was ambushed by five hooded gunmen while returning to the office.

The assailants intercepted the homemade bullion van on an overhead bridge, at Kuto and opened fire, then used a sledgehammer to break into the vehicle, carting away with government funds.

Oyekanmi and aides with gunshot injuries were rushed to the State General Hospital, Ijaye, where the accountant later died.

The source said the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, had already visited the late accountant’s residence to commiserate with the family.

The Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday night.

He said “This afternoon, the accountant, the Director of Finance with driver and one other person left for Fidelity bank to make some withdrawal, they went homemade bullion van. They were supposed to have a police escort, but for certain reasons, the person was permitted to travel to attend to some issues, so consequently he was not part of the movement of today.

“According to the story, after making the withdrawal, and on their way back to the office, they were accosted. A vehicle blocked them on top of the bridge, five occupants of the vehicle came down, shot at the director and from their vehicle, they brought out a sledge hammer to force the receptacle where the money was kept open and they left with the money.

“As at that time there was no information, the police escort was not with the team and they sped off.

“The driver claimed to have trailed them to a point along conference hotel where he lost contact with them.

“The director that was shut was thereafter taken to Ijaye hospital where he eventually gave up the ghost.”

Alamutu said he had demanded for the CCTV footage from the bank to aid the police’s investigation.

“For our investigation, I have directed the area commander to get to the bank and request for the CCTV footage which will give us insight into the vehicle in question and possibility of identifying the culprits if they ever ventured to step out of the vehicle or maybe they just maintained their position in the vehicle.

“I have reached out to Lagos and everywhere in the command to block all the exits out of the state while we are trying to identify them because they said they were five and they used hood.”