Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have bothered to respond to a statement issued by SP Opalola Yemisi Olawoyin, Police Public Relations Officer, Osun State Police Command on Tuesday, 31 August, 2021, debunking a statement tagged “AREGBESOLA’S AIDE ESCAPES ASSASSINATION AS ARMED MEN ATTACK HIS HOME” but for lies concocted in the statement which could be misleading to the general public, hence this rejoinder.
In the first instance, I was attacked by masked armed men in my house shortly after 10pm of Thursday, 26 August, 2021 while the police arrived the house around 1am; clearly two hours after the criminals had gone with my car and phone; this was because my wife and myself hands were tied and mouths stuffed and gagged; taking me time to reach neighbours who could untie me, return to wife, then proceed to get help, and then the police.
Therefore, the statement from the police that, “Immediately the Police received the report, Police detectives from Dada Estate and other Tactical squads swung into action and chased the hoodlums which led to the recovery of the said stolen vehicle while the hoodlums escaped after removing the front and rear plates number” is a blatant lie. Police couldn’t have “chased the hoodlums” that had gone 2hrs since!
In addition, it was around 6am of Friday, 27 August, 2021 on my way back to the station, with my allies that we spotted the car; parked at about 10 meters to the gate of the police station, the car key left on the driver’s seat, and then we called the attention of the police who were themselves shocked at the development.
Having inspected it, nothing was missing except the car plate numbers, Arsenal stickers, and all political related documents and personal ID cards. So, where and how did the police “chase the hoodlums which led to the recovery of the said stolen vehicle?”
Moreover, it is unprofessional of the police to declare that “The case is purely an armed robbery incident as nobody was killed” when no arrest has been made and investigation not yet completed. Again, I DID NOT ALLEGE ANY ASSAINATION PLOT as claimed by the Police when they stated that, “I wish to state categorically that discreet investigation carried out does not reveal any form of assassination…” Neither in my written statement to the police nor in the report of leading local online media, like Osun Defender, was there any reference to assassination. If the fact of brutality to myself and family, threat to snuff out my life, and the strange incidence of returning the vehicle to where myself and the police can clearly recover it, with focus of the assailants more on obtaining my documentations than material valuable, made any sympathetic writer suggest “attempted assassinations,” it is the duty of the police to simply factor it in as one of several possibilities during their thorough investigation rather than rush to clearly fictitious and partisan conclusions on a case they have not conclusively investigated! The statement of the police that “the case is purely an armed robbery incident as nobody was killed” speaks to no sense at all.
Lastly, the claim that “some hoodlum trailed his wife to his house” is spurious and maliciously fallacious considering what they learnt on arrival and contained in my statement unless the author of the statement know more about the attach than myself and the police who were on ground. My wife and children had been home hours before my arrival after 10pm, and the attack commenced minutes after my entry; if anything, it is I and not my wife that was trailed home!
The Police statement released shows them as being partisan in this matter without the writer being smart or intelligent about. Attitude like this is one justifiable reason in the argument of opponents to state police creation, and disincentives to citizens who are wary of relying on law enforcement agencies but resort to self-help.
Contrary to police insinuation that fake stories circulating around this incidence could create “unnecessary panic, tension and commotion in the State,” the Police are the one that are actually instrumental in generating tension and panic.
For instance, Police arraigning Hon. Rasaq Salinsile, Caretaker State Secretary of APC; Elder Biyi Adelowo, immediate APC State Chairman and leader of The Osun Progressives, along with five others (some of who I stood surety for) on trumped-up charges with the intention to sending them to correctional centre for their leadership roles in the APC Ward Congress Appeal Committee sitting. Police are supposed to be neutral and professional, not deceptive allies of desperate politicians.
Abosede Oluwaseun “Safety”
Sept 1st, 2021.
