Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Osun Gov, Deputy Escape Death at #EndSARS Protest

Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and his deputy, Mr. Benedict Alabi, narrowly escaped death on Saturday after they were attacked by armed men during an #EndSARS protest in Osogbo, the state capital.

Protesters also blocked Fajuyi road, Ado Ekiti that leads to government house.

Mothers took to the streets of Lagos to demand an end to police brutality, while protesters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) blocked the Abuja-Kubwa highway.

Thugs later infiltrated the scene to unleash terror on the protesters. Prayer walks also took place in parts of the country in another dimension to the protests.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State led top officials of the state to the Surulere, Lagos residence of Mr. Ikechukwu Iloamauzo, who was shot dead last week during the protest.

He pledged that the widow and family of the deceased would get justice in the matter. The Osogbo rally had started well when the protesters gathered at Olaiya Junction only for suspected thugs to swoop on them with cutlasses and sticks.

The protesters later reconvened and asked the governor to address them. He did at about 2.45pm, joining the protesters in the walk from Alekuwodo area to Olaiya junction, singing with them and promising them that their demands would be looked into. He assured them of his support, saying peaceful agitations were a part of the democratic process.

However, while still addressing the youths, the armed men and women unexpectedly started shooting and hurling stones at the governor’s car.

They also shot at the deputy governor, damaging his vehicles. Pandemonium erupted with the thugs taking over the Ola-Iya junction where they made bonfires, and began to attack innocent people.

Some of the thugs who were armed with axes, broken bottles, and cutlasses mounted bikes and moved around town threatening the peace.

Information and Civic Orientation Commissioner, Funke Egbemode, who was also at the scene of the incident, said the attack was beyond the #EndSARS protest, but a premeditated attempt to take the governor out.

“It was an assassination attempt. This was certainly beyond the #EndSARS protest. The people who launched the attack were not protesters at all. They were hoodlums with evil intentions.

“Protests have been going on in the State for some days now, and there had been no attack on any government official since the beginning of the protest.

“However, today’s attack changed the narrative. It was not a spontaneous attempt. The attackers had it all planned. They had guns and other weapons. In fact, it was a woman who smashed the windscreen of the vehicle of the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji where I was.

____

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2020 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

Amnesty International and some activists have challenged the Lagos State government to disclose the identities of the 103 #ENDSARS victims billed for mass burial....

News

The All Progressives Congress on Friday congratulated the former governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, for his victory at the Election Petition Tribunal which...

News

Vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed on Thursday said it was “highly debatable” to use the word massacre to describe...

News

Two years after the #EndSARS protests, over 40 protesters are still languishing in prisons, according to Amnesty International, Daily Trust reports. The human rights...

Copyright ©