Ex-legislator attacked, three injured

A former lawmaker representing Irele/Okitipupa Constituency at the National Assembly, Mr Akintoye Albert narrowly escaped death at the weekend when officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) allegedly shot his convoy.

Three persons were also said to have sustained injuries in the incident while two of the former legislator’s vehicles were allegedly riddled with bullets.

Speaking to reporters in Akure ,the former legislator said he was returning home after a political meeting at Ode-irele in Ondo State when men of the NSCDC numbering 12 suddenly accosted his convoy along Irele/Ore road and ordered him and members of his entourage to lie on the floor.

He said his move to know the mission of the officers resulted in sporadic shooting by the officers following which three members of his entourage were badly injured.

Akintoye said the officers who came with two Toyota Hilux vehicles belonging to the state command,allegedly beat them and damaged their vehicles.

Those who sustained injuries according to him were still receiving treatment at a private hospital in Ore.

Akintoye said the officers apologized to him when they discovered that they had mistaken his convoy for that of oil bunkerers.

Akintoye believed that the attack was politically motivated, alleging that the officer who led the team is a younger brother of a top politician from the area who had engaged him in a contest in recent time.

The incident brought to three the number of such attacks meted on innocent citizens of the state by NSCDC officials in the past.

Akintoye said“The officer claimed that they were chasing some oil bunkerers who normally ply the route, but I want to believe that the attack was politically motivated.

“I was returning fro ma political meeting at Irele on that fateful day when the incident happened. It was God that saved me. By now I would have been a dead man. The officers later apologized and claimed that they mistook my convoy for that of oil bunkerers”.

The NSCDC spokesman , Kayode Balogun did not confirm or deny the incident

Balogun said the officers only reported about the items confiscated from some oil bunkerers in the area to the command

(NAN)                                                               

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