Lawmaker laments threat to life as thugs attack his office

The lawmaker representing Oshodi/Isolo Federal Constituency 1 at the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Mutiu Shadimu, has raised the alarm of threat to his life and attack on his office by thugs in the constituency.

Shadimu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidate, in a statement made available to newsmen, in Lagos, alleged htat the thugs destroyed property and injured his Personal Assistants and members of his party during the attack.

The lawmaker called on law enforcement agents, the police, Department of State Security (DSS) and other security agencies to ensure his security and that of the people of Oshodi.

Said he, “I want to bring to the notice of Nigeria, the security agencies and all relevant government agencies of the recent development in my constituency, Oshodi/isolo Federal Constituency 1, which has to do with the recent attack in my office during our campaign, my office was attacked and guns were used to attack people, about five persons were attacked with various degrees of injury; we reported to the police force but up till now such attacks are still going on.

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“I want to call on the Nigeria police and other law enforcement agents to live up to their responsibility in arresting criminals who were involved in the attack of my office.

“I want to bring this to the notice of Nigeria that the crisis in Oshodi /Isolo is getting out of hand and the security agencies need to respond to defend the people,” he said.

He added that attacks on opposition parties is not worth it during elections or not but he said for the desperation of some politicians they engage in attacking the opposition which he said should be stopped to allow for peaceful coexistence even in the face of elections.

“The desperation of some people to get to power at all cost, the purpose of election is for you to campaign to win the heart of the people it is not meant to be for attacks on opposition but some people because they are not popular in the society and they don’t have the good will to lead, this they want to do by imposing themselves on the people through violence and intimidation they are head bent to take the centre stage, they want to acquire empire and not want to lead people and they want to continue to rule,” he said.

He urged his supporters to remain law abiding and not to resolve to attack but urged law enforcement agencies to guarantee security of the electorates in Oshodi and its environs. Saying breaking down of law and order should not be allow to take the centre stage of politics in the country as he called for responsive police force.

“Every Nigerian should not run away from our duty we should be bold enough to defend our future we should not allow any miscreants to intimidate us, all of us should stand up and defend our right, we don’t have any other country we can call ours than Nigeria, the security agencies should stand up to their responsibility and defend the citizens in accordance to the constitution to ensure security of lives and property and welfare of the people. If government failed in its responsibility, we may have anarchy,” he said.

He stated that lack of adequate security usually leads to chaos and unrest in the society “We have reported the case to the police but they are not doing anything about it, it appears that some people are above the law and are now holding people who respect the law to ransom,” he said.

Commenting on the postponement of the presidential and national assembly election, Shadimu said it was rather unfortunate the election was postponed.

“It is rather very unfortunate, the postponement has caused us a lot to the country, political parties, politicians and to the individuals who are not even politicians and that remain the problem that we cannot plan our live, if organisation like INEC that has been on the planning for years just to know that some hours to the lection they cannot go ahead again, it means they are not serious, they don’t know what they are doing. I think the right thing for the INEC chairman to do is to resign his position honorably. He doesn’t deserve to lead that organisation anymore and I think the presidency themselves are in connivance with these people it is a deliberate effort to stiffen opposition, they want to run them out of cash and they want to plan their rigging system but when they saw that the plan wont going along their plan they have to cancel the election, whatever the case may be, I know the election will still hold and Nigerians will have their voice,” he said.

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Shadimu lamented the short changing of trained adhoc staff in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government have been replaced with about 400 members of the APC saying this will have greater negative impact on the election. He urged the electoral body to allow the trained officer to be enegaged for the election work and called on INEC to ensure fair play in the process leading to the conduction of the result.

“I have heard so much about the adhoc staff list, I learnt that the trained adhoc staff in my local government were are not used and that the APC brought about 400 names to replace the trained officers, that to me is that the credibility of the election is in question and ability of the those engaged to do the work will create problem for the process because they are not been trained and it could be a greater problem to us, I want to appeal to INEC to allow the trained adhoc staff to take up the job and ensure fair play in the process to guarantee free, fair and credible election,” he said.

When contacted to confirm the reported case of an attack on Hon Shadimu’s office, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Makinde Police station, CSP Akinloye Kabir Adesina, said the case was reported and that the police responded to the situation promptly.

He said the report has also been sent to the Lagos State Police Command, which was also confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chike Oti.