•Group seeks prosecution of ex-lawmaker’s followers
A former Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Musibau Kolawole Taiwo has distanced himself from an attack on the Chairman of Ifelodun Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Fatai Ajidagba.
Ajidagba was attacked last Wednesday by touts at Aniyaloye Street, Alafia after leaving a meeting of G10, an organ of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the council area.
Ajidagba told The Nation that an ex-lawmaker has been harassing those opposing his House of Representatives’ ambition with touts.
Kolawole Taiwo aka HKT insisted that he knew nothing about the attack.
Taiwo said: “At the G10 meeting, we got to the issue of increasing the members of the group. I said the period was wrong and that there were tensions around including the forthcoming general election amongst others,” he said.
The former Deputy Speaker said Ajidagba was hell bent on increasing the membership of the group at the meeting and that this led to an argument between the Chairman and himself.
According to him, a leader of the party, Pa Remi Williams told Ajidagba that the matter could not be concluded at the meeting and he went out while the meeting was still on.
“Ajidagba later came back and said that some hoodlums came with me, but I didn’t go to the meeting with anybody. I did not even go there with my car; I went with Keke NAPEP just to disguise so that people would not see me.
Kolawole, who is Chairman of Ibile Microfinance Bank, added that ascribing the alleged attack to him was something uncalled for.
“The Chairman and I were arguing on something and in the process he got annoyed and went out only to come back and said I sent people to attack him. Why is he pointing accusing fingers at me? Is it because we were arguing at the meeting and you left before the meeting was over,” he said.
The ex-lawmaker admitted that Ajidagba was not supporting his House of Representatives ambition, but that this was not a big deal to him.
He said: “You cannot expect everybody to support you. I do tell my people that ‘don’t be against me even if you don’t support me.’ There is a thin line between you don’t support me and to be against me. This is a man that would corner everything they bring from the state.”
Kolawole accused Ajidagba of going to the headquarters of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Panti to bring policemen, who he said beat up and arrested his friend, who was not even at the meeting.
On Saturday, nine members of the aspirants to the Lagos State House of Assembly under the aegis of LAHA G9 condemned the attack on Ajidagba.
The group consists of Lukman Olumoh, S. O. Omololu, Obebe Jerome, Feyi-Abiodun Samson Oyeniyi, Aransi Saheed, Monsurat Oni and Lamidi Kareem, called on the police to prosecute the perpetrators.
The group said: “We condemned the attack and intimidation with attempt to assassinate Ajidagba by certain individuals reported to be loyalists of Taiwo. We implore all aspirants to adopt peaceful means and intellectual warfare rather than the use of violence, cultists and physical confrontation in their aspirations. We implore security operatives to arrest and ensure lawful trial and conviction of the suspected loyalists and followers of the former Deputy Speaker, who was alleged to perpetuate the act in order to serve as deterrents.
“That, the recent attack on Ajidagba, if gone unchecked, can encourage aggravated actions of waywardness by cultists, hoodlums, and even worst, against ordinary citizens and residents within the local council development area.”
The group appealed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to wade into the matter to avoid reoccurrence.