Following the failed assassination attempt on the Managing Director of Young Shall Grow Motors Limited, Chief Vincent Obianodo, and the rising crime rate in FESTAC Town, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, residents, mainly of Igbo descent, are planning to stage a peaceful protest this weekend.
Gunmen believed to be assassins recently blocked Obianodo’s Lexus Sports Utility Vehicle, SUV, in FESTAC, and tried to assassinate him.
The suspected assassins riddled Obianodo’s SUV with bullets, killing his driver and a female police orderly, while Obianodo, who narrowly escaped death, was injured in the arm and has been flown abroad for treatment.
The gruesome attack has prompted the residents to lose faith in the ability of the police in FESTAC to protect them, because they said this was one gruesome attack too many.
The residents are planning the peaceful protest against the backdrop of the incessant security challenges in FESTAC Town and its environs, while calling on the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar to nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand.
Some of the residents alleged that it was the same vehicle that a special squad from the Area ‘E’ Command uses for their operations that was used in kidnapping an Igbo chief recently and it was the same vehicle that was also used in the failed assassination attempt on Obianodo.
The Igbos made up of businessmen said it is high time they cried out before the crime rate escalated.
Leading the proposed peaceful protest is a close associate of Obianodo, who wants to remain anonymous.
He accused the police of being culpable in the failed assassination attempt, adding “the families of Chief (Obianodo) have continued to ask questions why the police did not respond swiftly when they heard sporadic shootings on the night he was attacked.”
Expected among the protesters is Chukwuma Nwokeoma, a business tycoon, who opined that there is more to the failed assassination attempt on Obianodo than meets the eye.
“The police have stopped me times without number with a particular car but since the attack on chief, that car has suddenly disappeared. Concerned authorities should please ask the police where the said car is. I am raising this question now before they finish killing us all,” said Nwokeoma, who hails from Neni, Anambra State, the same village as Obianodo.
Nwokeoma added that they are already mobilising Igbos in FESTAC ahead of the peaceful protest while calling on the State Security Service, SSS, to take over the investigation into the failed assassination attempt.
Meanwhile, families of Bianodo also want the case to be transferred, having lost confidence in the police there.
You people hv something on ur sleeves because u are tribalists. I can't imagine a sane person saying there is more to the attack, meaning Fashola wants to kill him abi? Ibos, it is better u wake up and face reality abt ur domineering lifestyle.
ReplyDelete@walts05, you seem to be very envious of the igbos. Nobody has made reference to Fashola killing him. Rather an allegation has been made that a certain police vehicle has been used for crime twice and that is an allegation that needs to be investigated, rather than try to transform a serious crime issue into another igbo vs yoruba war. It so happens that most of the business men affected in the area are igbo. You cannot deny that the victims of the two crimes being linked to the police vehicle are igbo. Please by more objective and face the real issue. Leave all these tribal sentiments aside cos it will not get you nor me nor our country anywhere!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many illegal hotels in Festac where armed robbers lodge, plan and share their loots. For sanity to be in Festac hotels in Festac must be checked .
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9.27pm, if the hotels that litter FESTAC, a residential area are checked, there will be murmurs that Ibo businesses are being targeted simply because the owners are Ibo! So, how do we go?
ReplyDeleteAs the Yorubas say, Gambari pa Fulani, ko le'jo ninu. Who are kidnappers, assassins and armed robbers in the majorly Ibo populated FESTAC town? Can someone answer please.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is aware Festac is dangerous, its by the grace of God residents are living there. If Lagos state government had put an eye in festac all these evil would have been things of the past. Festac has the worst set of corrupt police men in Nigeria. Festac is seen as a money making place for police men. Most Yoruba, Hausa Edo and other Nigerian tribe have moved out of festac because what they see and hear are unbelievable. Festac is terrible I feel so sorry for my friends living there.
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