Nigeria's Senate Majority Leader, Teslim Folarin, charged in the daylight murder of Lateef Salako, aka "Eleweomo", the factional leader of the National Union of Road Transport workers in Ibadan, Oyo state, is a free man!

Senator Folarin's "discharge" was due to the intervention of Goodluck Jonathan, who is trying to head off an ugly situation with angry lawmakers and put their loyalty on his side. The legislators claim to have had an agreement with Jonathan for all Senators to be returned unopposed. In last week’s convention in the states, however, about 50 senators and 60 members of the House of Representatives were in on their way out.

A mass protest by the angry Senators got the attention of Jonathan, who promised to rectify the situation, starting with the release of the Senator Folarin today.

The Inspector General's office, which had hastily ordered Senator Folarin to be charged, reportedly discovered that the Commissioner of Police in Oyo state was acting on a script hatched by the governor, Bayo Alao-Akala.

The IG and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, a source told SaharaReporters, found out that the first investigation, known as the "First Incident Report," was "empty". It did not contain the autopsy report conducted on "Eleweomo," which shows that he was shot in the thigh with a pump action gun as opposed to police bullets. Also, it was discovered that the labour leader died about one kilometer from the scene of the attack, having been stabbed repeatedly.

A few days ago, four policemen attached to Folarin were released from police detention.

This morning, the police authorities went to a Magistrate Court in Ibadan and terminated the trial of Senator Folarin. It is believed that he was flown from the airport in Ibadan in a special aircraft provided by the presidency to enable him attend the convention in Abuja. He will join 163 delegates from Oyo state who were camped last night at Princess Hotel Abuja to vote in today's primaries.