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Nigeria: Alleged Bid to Kill Ogun Speaker - Gov's Aide, Eight Others Arrested
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Vanguard (Lagos)
6 July 2008
Posted to the web 7 July 2008
Kolade Larewaju
The speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Mr. Samson Tunji Egbetokun, yesterday, alleged the invasion of his official quarters by gunmen led by an aide to Governor Gbenga Daniel on a mission to murder him.
Already, the governor's aide and eight others have been arrested by men of the State Security Service (SSS) and were, at press time, being detained at the state headquarters of the SSS in Abeokuta, the state capital. Three rifles were allegedly recovered from them. Last night, the state government said it was unaware of the development
Speaking to newsmen at his official quarters amidst heavy security mounted by his colleagues and SSS operatives, Egbetokun said that the governor's aide came to his quarters with some people who were armed in surreptitious manner with the intention to kill him.
This, he said, was after the state legislators shunned a meeting called by Daniel for security reasons.
Explaining what happened, Egbetokun said, "I received a call from the governor's aide asking me for a one-on-one meeting with me.
I asked him whether I could bring one or two other legislators with me and he insisted that it should be a one-on-one meeting.
I was then in the house of another Honourable, Leye Odunjo. "I then asked him to come to my quarters and he said he did not know the place and I told him that it was sad that as the governor's aide he did not know the house of the speaker. I then told him the number of the quarters and described the place to him".
The speaker said that while this was going on, he received a call from a traditional ruler asking him why he and his colleagues refused to attend a meeting with the governor scheduled for 1 p.m., saying that after explaining that they refused to attend because members said that they were unsafe, the traditional ruler asked him to send a text message to the governor to that effect.
"But to my shock, after sending the text, I got a call from a special adviser to the governor shouting on me and asking why I should be texting the governor like that and I was trying to explain to him what happened when I was informed that the aide was in my house. I then trekked to the house and met the aide with two hefty men in a vehicle and I invited him to my bedroom.
However one of my security aides was there and he did not know that he was a security man. The security aide was all the while seated monitoring the men outside and he saw one of them getting down to open the boot and he got up and went to accost him only to discover that he was bringing out a brand new rifle with nine bullets in it. He arrested him and raised an alarm.
"While that was going on, a call came in that some people who came in a station wagon vehicle marked OG 386 A01 had been caught within the assembly quarters and that two new rifles were found with them.
"The SSS people then went there and arrested them with the guns and they were taken away to their office with the governor's aide. I don't know what they are trying to cover that they want to kill me. I told the governor's aide that Obasanjo used three speakers, more than three Senate presidents, why are you bothered that we have changed our speaker?"
Egbetokun who was surrounded by some members of the House and about five SSS operatives, while he addressed journalists, said that he had no reason to fear and wondered why he would be a target of attack when they were all members of the same party.
Deputy press secretary to the governor, Mr. Segun Sowunmi, in a swift reaction, last night, said "I can state categorically that the executive governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, is totally, for emphasis, totally unaware of this development.
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"This is a peace loving administration and the government will leave no stone unturned to investigate and deal with the matter decisively".
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