Kunle Adelabu
-Some of the invaders already arrested, arraigned and remanded in prison.
The four term member and the Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, on Thursday, October 29, 2020, gave accounts of the wanton attack on his house and other facility by hoodlums, which he tagged, ‘My True Story’.
He gave the detailed account of what actually transpired while delivering his keynote address at the 2020 Constituency Stakeholders’ Meeting held at the 700 – Seaters hall at the Lagos State Polytechnic, lkorodu main campus.
The lawmaker, while speaking on the incident, also used video analysis to buttresss his statement.
The video analysis, which was shown on a giant screen, showed the attack on a facility where dried foods that Hon Agunbiade procured personally and the palliative materials that were given to him by the government, were kept and the invasion of his home by those he said were armed with guns.
Hon. Agunbiade said that the invaders that looted his house and carted away valuables, were sponsored by his political adversaries and disclosed that some of the suspects have been arrested, arraigned and remanded in prison.
He added that the intentions of his detractors whom he said also launched campaign against his person on social media and media houses, were to “to blacken my face; to deface and de – market me”.
Aside the invasion of the facility where the food items were kept; attack on his house by armed men and others, campaign against him on the social media, Hon Agunbiade also alleged that press statement released by his media team to explain the attack were also perverted by some online media platforms.
“I will like to talk about what happened to me as most of you already know. A lot of you have also read the perverted version of what happened”, Hon. Agunbaide said.
“I have been seriously vilified in the media and I have suffered political persecution in the hands of some political detractors in our midst in Ikorodu.
“This opportunity that I have as your representative should be used to tell you that the S.O.B. that you know and as you know him is not a thief.
“The SOB that you know is a man of integrity and I am sure that you all know that before now, S.O.B. had personally distributed palliative relief to residents and constituents in my constituency.
“Some of the people that we distributed the palliatives to were nominated by the CDC, religious bodies, NUT, Cultural groups among others. We always get our nominations through you.
“What happened was that since I celebrated my 50th birthday some years back, I stopped celebrating birthdays. Instead, on every October 25, I always come up with a programme that will impact on my people and for this year, I decided that I will give a widow’s mite to 50 widows. They were to get N50, 000 each.
“We reached out to people and groups to nominate people for us. Some bodies and groups such as; NUT, CDC, Muslim community, CAN, and others nominated people to benefit . We were to do the programme on my birthday and also we planned to give cash of N50, 000 each to 50 widows whose names were generated from the stakeholders in the constituency”, he explained to his constituents.
“Also, instead of cooking food for people to eat and drink, I decided to buy uncooked food and distribute them to people whom we called vulnerable and indigent. The purpose is for them to have something to eat at home.
“That is not palliatives, but my own relief for my constituents as a way of praising God that I have added another year.
He said that aside the 50 widows that will get N50, 000 each, he also planned to distribute food items to 700 individuals to mark his birthday.
“These food materials were procured at my own expense and kept them at a facility and not in my house. I started buying bags of garri and rice since August ending and we were repackaging them for our constituents”, he stated.
“I have a target of 700 hundred people.
“If you remember, during the last Ramadan when we could not have our annual Ramadan lecture, the iftar (the food eaten after breaking fast) that we normally give to the people at the event, were packaged and distributed across the constituency.
“Incidentally, the Lagos State Government also gave us palliative relief, though, I was not in the country but those holding forth for me distributed those that I bought for Ramadan and others donated by the government to the people”, he recalled.
“We have video coverage that shows that those that distributed the food packs informed the beneficiaries about the sources of the two food packs and a lot of people appreciated the gesture?”
He said that while preparing for his birthday, the Lagos State Government donated 120 packs of indomie and 50 bags of dried food to him, and that he planned to increase the number of the beneficiaries to 700 constituents.
He also said that the entire packs of foods that he bought and the additional ones donated by the government were carted away by those that invaded the facility where they were kept.
“So, while getting these materials (food meant to be distributed on his birthday) ready for people, Lagos State government sent us some palliatives for distribution in the second week of October.
“The understanding at the Lagos State House of Assembly was that those materials should be distributed at the Constituency Stakeholders’ Meeting initially scheduled to be held on Friday, October 21, but because of the crisis ravaging the country and the state, the House of Assembly put off the programme indefinitely.
“All those materials that were donated by the government are 120 packs of indomie and 50 bags of assorted dried foods in sacks. The packs were contained in sacks with the inscription,‘ By Lagos State Government and CACOVID. Not to be sold’.
“I felt that I could use the food materials supplied by the government to add more slots to what I intended to distribute for my birthday to be distributed on my birthday”.
Narrating the genesis of what led to the invasion of his house and others in Ikorodu, Hon. Agunbiade stated that it all started with a message on the Twitter by an anonymous person who alleged that food items meant for Ikorodu people awere stored in some political leaders’ houses.
He added that while he working on preventing the unfortunate incident, he never knew that the same thing he was trying to prevent on other people would eventually happened to him.
“Unfortunately, in the early morning of 23rd of this month, there was a tweet from one anonymous stating that Covid – 19 materials were hidden in the house of Baba Olorunfunmi Basorun and Adeniran Ogunsanya house.
“Specifically, Asipa Kaoli Olusanya sent a message to me that I should debunk the wrong tweet and I went on the twitter to debunk the information being circulated about the Covid materials.
“I added that it was a ploy by some people to mobilize people to attack Ikorodu and asked people to disregard it.
“My name was never mentioned there but I knew that they were up to something but l never knew that they were after me”.
He alleged that the wrong information was sponsored by some people in Ikorodu who wanted to cause chaos.
“The anonymous tweet was sent by some people from Ikorodu to cause chaos because they actually knew that there was no palliative hidden in Adenrele Ogunsanya and Basorun’s houses.
“I called the Ayangbure of Ikorodu to tell him that some people were planning to cause trouble in Ikorodu and asked him to talk to the Commandant of the 174 Battalion for patrol and I also called the Onyabo that they should be at alert. All these were done to protect the town.
“I was not in Ikorodu while all these were happening. I had gone to work at Alausa on Monday with my wife who also works at Alausa. Alausa was locked down completely and we could not gain access to our working places.
“It was also difficult returning to Ikorodu because there was trouble along the way and we had to stay back in Lagos from Monday to Friday and when I wanted to come home on that Friday, my wife told me not to.
“I respected her view and stayed back in Lagos. I later heard that there were hoodlums in front of the small store where l kept the food items. I normally keep things in that store because I don’t have a store in my house”.
Hon. Agunbiade also clarified that the facility where the food items meant for distribution were kept was not broken into but that he asked his people that informed him about the presence of the mob, to open the store and let them go away with the dried foods.
“When I was called, I informed my people on the ground not to call security but to open the store for them to take all the bagged foods. If you look at the video (showing separate attacks on the store and his house to the audience), you will see that the place that the food items were kept is different from my house that was later vandalized”, he explained.
“That was one of my people, Olamilekan Rado Pelumi (still pointing at the projector) bringing out food bags for the hoodlums and those that came to the place were collecting them. They did not damage anything nor did they break into the facility. The place was opened for them”, he said.
He alleged that after all the food items at the facility were removed, some of the invaders proceeded to his house armed to attack and looted his properties.
“It was after that, that those who were given instruction to liquidate me and vandalize my properties went to my house. You can see that the colour of my house different from the colour of the place the food items were carted away from.
“On Tuesday, I got information that some people are planning to attack my house but I said that it is not possible because there is no reason for anybody to attack my house. Some of those that invaded the facility where food items were carted away again moved to my house.
“Five of them were armed with guns and the other two with machetes. They thought that I was in the house because I am always around on weekends”, he told the audience.
“They invaded my house, broke into the building and vandalized everything. They stole furniture that I bought for my constituency office.
“They broke in through the kitchen and removed everything including serving plates, pots, microwaves and every other item.
“There is a security door between my kitchen and my sitting room, they broke it too and destroyed all its metals. They went into my sitting room and carted away all my electronics, rugs, Quran, praying mats and others.
“They went into my room and emptied all my wardrobe; stole all my shoes. The clothes that I am wearing today is among the clothes that l gave out for laundry. All the clothes that l have now are those with the laundry man.
“They also removed my international passports. They went into my wife’s room and removed everything in her wardrobe. They took all her jewelries. They took everything away.
“They removed mattress, dismantled my bed and went away with it That is the extent of what they did”, Hon. Agunbiade said to the audience who were overwhelmed with silence in the big hall.
“They went into my study room, took my computer, photocopier, chairs, tables, laptops, conference materials and also went away with some files, some of them contained my certificates. Are those also Covid – 19 palliatives?”, he asked jokingly.
“They went away after finishing the physical assault on me and later started campaign against me online. They have promoters and sponsors who are also politicians in Ikorodu”, the ranking lawmaker alleged.
“My people released a statement to explain what actually happened and provide clarifications on the food items stolen from the facility that the food items are not entirely palliatives but are largely and substantially food items that I bought for distribution to my constituents on my birthday.
“Those ones (palliatives) that were given to me by the state were 120 packs of indomie and 50 bags of dried foods. What they removed from the facility was much more than that. They removed the ones for the palliatives and every other item that I was planning to distribute to my constituents on my birthday”.
He alleged that despite the explanation contained in the release, online platforms distorted the statement and picked area where palliatives were mentioned to further the negative campaigns against him.
“Unfortunately, those that are lurking in the dark took the release and promoted that all the food items removed from my facility were (COVID – 19) palliatives meant to be distributed for my birthday. They pushed that out in the media mischievously and they were paying Bloggers to circulate the news as if I was the one that stated that.
“They went as far as BBC where you cannot just put anything on their news items and they kept circulating in every other news platform”.
The lawmaker said that the intention of the hoodlums and their sponsors were to dent his political image.
“What they are planning to do is to blacken my face; to deface and de – market me. But he who God wants to bless, He will bless and I know that Hadith one says that, “actions shall be judged according to intentions”. Let’s God judge me according to my intentions.
“They did not stop at attacking my house and campaigning against me in the media, but they also started giving my mobile phone number to people and motivated them to call and abuse me. Those that called were shouting ‘Ole’ ‘Ole’ (thief, thief) at me on the phone to give me psychological trauma. Others also called to threaten me but I told them that I have left the battle for God to fight for me”, he stated philosophically.
“For those of you here today, I thank you for still deeming me fit as somebody that you can associate with. I thank you very much.
“I have done palliatives with my own money more than three times and you all know that and at every Constituency Stakeholders Meeting that we had done, we always distributed things as take – away for our constituents. We don’t normally distribute cooked food but dried ones”, he said.
“The dried foods are still here today for distribution despite all that happened. I know that the God that always stands by His own will stand by me and by you all”, he prayed.
While stating that he did not know what those that allegedly invaded his house would have done if they had met him at home, Hon. Agunbiade also announced to the audience in the hall that some of the invaders that looted his properties have been arrested and arraigned before the court.
“You will imagine what would have happened to me if they had met me at home. Five of them were with guns. Did they come to loot palliatives with guns?”, he asked rhetorically.
“The good thing is that the Onyabo Vigilance group and the Police in Lagos State have arrested some of them. They have been arraigned before court and remanded in prison custody for now”, he stated as a wild ovation rented the hall.
“They knew that I have dogs and they came with somebody that knows about dogs. It was a perfect job. They went away with all my dogs. The good news is that one of them that went away with my dogs was arrested yesterday (Wednesday) with the dog”, he added.
“They also went away with my pumping machine. That is my true story.
“The clarification is that those things that they removed from my facility were not only palliatives, they included 120 packs of indomie and 50 bags of dried food that were given by the government and the bulk of these were food items that I bought for distribution to my constituents. They were not removed from my house and those saying otherwise only wanted people to believe that they vandalized my house because those things were found in my house. That is my story”, Hon. Agunbiade told the gathering whih gave him a rapturous applause.
