Few weeks to the 2019 general elections, the lawmaker representing Ibadan North West/South West federal constitiency of Oyo State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi yesterday raised the alarm that his life is under a threat of political assassination.
Addressing a press conference at Fijabi House, Dugbe, Ibadan, yesterday, Akinade-Fijabi, who is seeking third term re-election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said he narrowly escaped political assassination three days ago at Sabo area of Ibadan.
He alleged that his opponent in the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Rotimi Ajanaku, was purportedly behind the alleged assassination attempt, saying he needs protection from the police and Department of State Security (DSS), as he insisted that the case should be taken to court.
According to Akinade-Fijabi, who is the Chairman, Committee on Telecommunication, “Precisely, in the early hours of January 6, 2019, I had a meeting and after the meeting, I was driving home. Unfortunately, on getting to Sabo area of Ibadan, I was crossed by two branded vehicles of a party, precisely ZLP. The picture of a candidate was on the bus, and one Honda Accord car, belonging to one Rotimi Ajanaku, contesting also for Ibadan South West/North West Federal Constituency.
“I was crossed at Sabo between 12:30a.m and 1a.m. I was with one of my personal assistants, Yemi. We came down and on coming down, we noticed that like 10 of them came down from the bus and brandished guns and cutlasses. They asked me to lie down in the gutter, which obviously for one reason or the other, and because of my life, I lied down in the gutter.
“It was while lied down in the gutter that I summoned courage to call my father because we were in the same meeting together at Davies Hotel, Bodija. The next person I was able to call is officer in charge of Skynet, and I called the Oyo State Control Room.”
Fijabi stated further that it was when he lied down in the gutter that he also saw some people he knows among the alleged attackers, including Ajanaku, adding that the alleged attackers shouted loudly that they would kill him.
He continued: “Fortunately, within 10 to 15 minutes, while the argument was on, my father drove in. As he came down from the vehicle, one of the drivers of the bus came down and was fighting with my dad.
“From nowhere, Operation Burst came in, and the Commander of Operation Burst was even the one that led the team to the place that very morning. When he came down, all of them ran away, including Rotimi Ajanaku himself. But we were able to apprehend one of them. Ajanaku was arrested in the evening of that day and the bus was impounded.
“In searching the bus before we left that place, we could notice they still have a well-loaded and ready-to-use gun in their vehicle. In searching it, we noticed that cutlasses were wrapped in the posters in the bus, which they wanted to use against us.”
