Gunmen raid ex-Oyo SSG’s house, kill guard

A former secretary to the Oyo State government and chieftain of the Accord Party, Chief Dele Adigun, on Tuesday night escaped being felled by assassins’ bullets, as gunmen invaded his Akobo residence in Ibadan.

Unknown to the assailants, Adigun had left Ibadan in the afternoon in company with former governor Rashidi Ladoja and other chieftains of the party for the inauguration of Accord Party secretariat in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday.

It was gathered that the gunmen arrived at Adigun’s residence at about 10 p.m. and frantically searched the building for the former secretary to no avail.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, some of his neighbours said they were about going to bed around 10 p.m. when they heard a noise from Adigun’s compound with shouts of “where is your oga.”

It was further gathered that the gunmen tied the hands and legs of the night guard identified as simply Mr Ola and shot him dead when they could not lay hand on his boss.

The body of the slain guard was said to have deposited at the Adeoyo Yemetu Hospital morgue by the police.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, Chief Adigun said none of his personal effects, including the six cars in his compound, was taken away by the gunmen, adding that it was a pure case of assassination on his life.

“I was their target. If they were armed robbers, they would have stolen my property. There were six cars in my compound and they did not make away with any of them. They are at it again and assassins are on the prowl. They did not know I had travelled with Senator Ladoja to Ado-Ekiti. The police have gone to my house and have taken the corpse of the guard to Adeoyo Yemetu Hospital,” he said.

A visibly emotionally overwhelmed Adigun said the possibility of the attempted attack on his life being sponsored by political opponents could not be ruled out, explaining that there had been increasing desperation for power by failed politicians in the state.

“This dastardly act is very strange, barbaric and shows that safety of life and property can no longer be guaranteed in the state. If not, why would anyone want to snuff life out of me? What offence have I committed? I made no mistake in my choice of political camp and I do not regret being a member of the ever-expanding Accord Party of Senator Ladoja.

“Those who killed my night guard have assassinated sleep and shall never know sleep. It is obvious in Oyo State that we are now in Thomas Hobbes’ State of Nature, where life is short and brutish, where people have to lock not only their doors and gates but also their chest when they sleep in the night,” he said.

He called on the stat Police Commissioner, Mohammed Indabawa to fish out the assassins and ensure justice is done in the “unjustifiable murder” of his guard by the assailants.

The Police Public Relations Officer for the state command, Ayodele Lanade, confirmed the development, describing the incident as a case of suspected assassination and clearly not a case of robbery.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police explained that the police had not been able to make any arrest of suspects behind the killing as of the time of this report.