ABEOKUTA –– A NEW dimension was weekend added to the Ilaro crisis as the members of the House of Representatives Ogun State caucus said that the crisis was an attempt to assassinate Governor Olugbenga Daniel and his wife, Olufunke.
Briefing newsmen in Abeokuta the Ogun state capital, the lawmakers led by the Deputy Leader of the caucus, Mr. Lekan Mustapha said that some politicians met at two different locations in Ilaro during which plans were hatched to assassinate the governor and his wife.
“We members of the National Assembly, Ogun State caucus has it on good authority that the mayhem unleashed on the convoys of governor of Ogun State, His Excellency, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and his wife, Yeye Olufunke Daniel at Ilaro on Tuesday October 19, 2004 was not an ordinary students’ protest but a planned and viciously executed assassination plot that failed,” Mr. Mustapha said.
The lawmakers said that priviledged investigation report in their possession has shown “beyond any reasonable doubt that some prominent opposition politicians in this state converged at Ilaro prior to the arrival of the wife of the governor who was billed to perform a de-worming exercise as part of her child care programme.
“All the personalities involved are now known to us and the amount of money that changed hands between the said politicians and the hoodlums who were hired to do the evil job.
“There is no doubt that the mayhem was actually perpetrated by the hired thugs who disguised as students,” the lawmakers said in their handwritten address.
Mr. Mustapha said that students of the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro could not have attacked Governor Gbenga Daniel owing to the fact that he recently donated brand new luxury buses to all tertiary institutions in the state.
He said that the attack was a ploy by “evil minded, selfish, egocentric and inordinately over-ambitious politicians who are clearly enemies of progress to divert attention of the governor and thereby deny the people the benefits of his good governance.”
The lawmaker argued that there was no protest over power outage, adding that if there was one, the students would have attacked NEPA officials, installations or office and not the governor.
Six of the nine member caucus were present at the press briefing.
