Council boss ordered attack on me – Youth leader

Youth leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, Lagos, Adedeji Oshinowo, has accused the Chaiman of the council, Mr. Abdulfatai Oyesanya, of orchestrating an attack that left him with eight machete cuts.

Forty-three-year-old Oshinowo told PUNCH Metro on Saturday that his problem with the council boss had to do with the fact that he did not belong to Oyesanya’s political camp.

Our correspondent learnt on Thursday that there were sporadic shootings at Ketu area around 9pm.

Findings later revealed that a man (Oshinowo) was attacked in the area by thugs who came in a white van marked, Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, Lagos, and a Volvo car.

At a hospital where Oshinowo was being treated, he gave an account of the attack that landed him in the emergency ward.

He said, “Around 6pm on Thursday, I was at a meeting in my ward. While the ward chairman was addressing members, some ladies, who are loyalists of Oyesanya were being rude to him. I cautioned them and appealed to the ward chairman just to quell the crisis.

“I went home after the meeting and was relaxing in the front of my house around 9pm when I noticed a white van and a Volvo car pull up close to my house. Some men dressed in black and a lady I know as Shade came out with them.”

Oshinowo explained that Shade was one of the ladies who were allegedly causing problem during the ward meeting.

He added that the lady was the one who identified him for his attackers.

The youth leader said, “She pointed to me saying ‘that is the Deji.’

“When the men approached, I recognised one of them, Saheed, an aide to Oyesanya.”

According to Osinowo, the attackers, who were wielding guns and machetes, shot sporadically into the air and pounced on him.

He said he must have lost consciousness during the attack as he could not recall much of what happened.

“I was told I was revived in the hospital. I don’t have any problem with Oyesanya except that he is angry because I’m not one of his loyalists,” he said.

The case was reported at the Ketu Police Division. In May 2012, Saturday PUNCH reported a crisis at Ketu after some hoodlums wreaked havoc in the area following an attempt to impeach Oyesanya.

When Oyesanya’s spokesperson, Mr. Ajibola Adeyinka, was contacted on Sunday, he said the council boss could not possibly have anything to do with the attack on Oshinowo.

He said, “Why would the chairman send people to attack anyone? Are they contesting an election against each other or what? Even if they are, would that warrant an attack on him? It does not make sense.

“The report we got was that the man (Oshinowo) slapped someone at the ward meeting and there was pandemonium. We got a report that he was drunk. You can even confirm this from Ketu Police Division.”

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident.

“Three people have been arrested and will be charged to court tomorrow (Monday),” she said.