Attack on Daniel: Police Detain Osoba
I was made to sign N50m bail bond, says ex-gov
By Justice Ilevbare
Former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, was yesterday arrested at his Ikoyi, Lagos home by men of the Nigeria Police Force and detained for three hours over the crisis at Ilaro, Ogun State.
THISDAY checks revealed that he was whisked away without a warrant of arrest by five policemen who took him to the Onikan office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Gazali Lawal. He was arrested around 6pm but was released around 9pm after writing a statement on the Ogun crisis at the request of the AIG.
Although police authorities refused to comment on the development last night, THISDAY gathered that the AIG wanted to treat the arrest as a "friendly encounter." He was said to have been disposed to releasing Osoba after writing the statement, but the former governor was not allowed to go home allegedly on "orders from above."
The convoy of the governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, and that of his wife, Yeye Olufunke Daniel, had been attacked by persons suspected to be students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, who were protesting a prolonged power outage in the town.
Five students were reportedly killed by policemen who went to effect arrest of some suspects in the town the following day, although the state government has emphatically denied reports that there were casualties during the arrest.
Osoba, who later spoke with THISDAY on phone yesterday after his release, said he was made to sign a bail bond of N50 million on self-recognition before he was released.
"The policemen were very decent and cautious in their dealing with me," he told THISDAY last night. "Although they wanted to make it look like it was not an arrest, what is the meaning of bail bond? Do you bail somebody who is not under arrest?"
Osoba and the government of Ogun State have been trading accusations since the Tuesday incident. While Osoba said he did not have a hand in the attacks, officials of the state government believe he was the mastermind.
The state government had, in its own version of the incident, stated that on Tuesday, 19 October 2004, the wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunke Daniel, in her capacity as Chairperson of Gateway Front Foundation was scheduled to flag off a child de-worming exercise at Iwoye on the outskirts of Ilaro.
"Unfortunately, Mrs. Daniel could not reach the venue of the exercise where hundreds of children eagerly awaited her arrival. Hoodlums, claiming to be students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro who were protesting power outage during their semester examinations laid siege to the venue of the event, generally making life unbearable for the crowd that had gathered to await the arrival of Mrs. Daniel.
"The conduct of the mob made the venue unruly and posed a threat to law and order. The law enforcement agents and men of goodwill, therefore felt constrained to resist the affront of the mob, which was promptly dispersed while some arrests were made.
"Just as her convoy was leaving Ilaro for the final stretch to Iwoye, another mob of hoodlums attacked Mrs. Daniel's convoy, pelting the vehicles with stones and other dangerous weapons and damaging many vehicles in the process. The action of the mob forced Mrs. Daniel and her entourage, largely made up of women and medical officers to turn back and return to Abeokuta, the State capital.
"The Governor decided to proceed to Iwoye for a first-hand assessment of the situation and to ensure that the intended beneficiaries of the de-worming exercise did not wait in vain. As the Governor's convoy entered Ilaro, it also came under a heavy barrage of missiles and gunshots while bonfires were set across the access roads.
"The convoy was, however, able to make its way to Iwoye, where the Governor addressed the people who had waited patiently and performed the symbolic de-worming exercise. On the return leg of his journey, the Governor's convoy came under another barrage of attack, which forced him to shelve a courtesy call on the Olu of Ilaro at his palace," he said.
While alleging that the cause of the mayhem was the incitement by the erstwhile governor of the state, the state government noted that "from the morning till the afternoon of Tuesday 19 October, a meeting that held in the residence of late Professor Afolabi Olabimtan was attended by both Mr. Dina and Chief Olusegun Osoba, immediate past Governor of the State.
He alleged that "it was from this meeting that the mayhem unleashed on the town was being co-ordinated."
Osoba had also told THISDAY in an interview in Lagos that he could not comprehend why his presence in Ilaro for a private meeting would be interpreted as organising students to attack the convoy of the first family in Ogun State.
He explained that he was in Ilaro for a meeting of members of the AD from Ogun West Senatorial District at the private residence of the late Olabimtan and the meeting ended around 4 pm in the evening.
Describing the allegation as totally untrue, Osoba said, "I see a case of terrible desperation on the part of the Ogun State government. Always running away from the shadow and the supposed ghost of Osoba. I thought a government that has been in place for one and a half years should by now have settled down and face governance rather than witch-hunting supposed opponents.
"That was totally untrue. I was in Ilaro for a scheduled meeting of our AD members in Ogun-west senatorial district. The meeting had been scheduled a month earlier and from the minutes of the meeting which is in October 19. I didn't even enter Ilaro town as the meeting was holding in the private residence of Senator Olabimtan", he said.
Osoba attributed the attack on the first family, to what he described as its insensitivity to pockets of security situations in the state, adding that the attack from students are normal occurrences in the life of any administration.
He said "since I left government, I have made no contacts with anybody in and out of government, deliberately. Not even a messenger. And that is why I don't sleep in Abeokuta, not because I am afraid of them. I didn't want a situation where some people would come to visit me and they would be tagged enemies of the state".
Last April, Osoba, Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu and former Governor of Ekiti, Chief Niyi Adebayo, were in the news after being allegedly placed under "house arrest" by soldiers at Iyin-Ekiti, Ekiti State during a funeral programme for the mother of Bamidele Opeyemi, Lagos State Commissioner for Sports.
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