Human rights activist and African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has accused President Bola Tinubu's Special Adviser on Student Engagement, Sunday Asefon, of collecting money from Abuja to organize an attack on him and his team in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Sowore made the allegation during an interview on Channels Television's Inside Sources. According to Sowore, Asefon, a former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, allegedly traveled to Ekiti with money from Abuja to organize the attack.
Sowore recounted how he was targeted, chased by armed attackers, and forced to hide in an elderly woman's kitchen for about 45 minutes to escape being killed. He identified Sola Adenijo, popularly known as Solar, as one of the attackers, alleging that he was the enforcer for the Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority, Oyetunde Ojo, President Tinubu's son-in-law. Sowore also identified another individual seen wielding a machete during the attack as the Chief Security Officer of the City Boy Movement in Ekiti.
Sowore disclosed that he traveled to Ekiti to participate in the Ikogosi Marathon, having attended the previous edition. He explained that his criticism of Governor Biodun Oyebanji following his visit to Ikogosi last year might have contributed to the hostility against him. Sowore also alleged that before his interview at Midas FM 96.5, the governor's Chief Security Officer, CSP Ayodele Akinlua, contacted one of his party members to ask what he was doing in Ekiti and whether he intended to organize a rally.
After the radio interview, Sowore and his entourage stopped at Tawakalitu Restaurant in central Ado-Ekiti. He alleged that within 15 minutes of their arrival, gunshots rang out as armed men stormed the restaurant. Sowore claimed that police officers assigned to accompany his team abandoned them when the attackers arrived, while his orderly, who was in plain clothes and carrying a concealed pistol, was disarmed.
Sowore said he escaped through the restaurant's backdoor, sustaining injuries to his leg and palm. He narrated that he got to a spot where he was able to tweet and send a Facebook message that they were under attack. Sowore recounted that he eventually found refuge in an elderly woman's kitchen in a 'face-me-I-face-you' building, where she concealed his presence as about 40 young men searched neighboring houses.
Sowore disputed the police account that officers rescued him, insisting that he personally walked out of his hiding place to meet them after contacting his orderly. He also accused the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police of attempting to downplay the attack by describing it as an altercation. Sowore said the commissioner visited him at the hospital but left without speaking to him, only to issue a statement about 10 minutes later describing the incident as a fight between two groups.
Sowore alleged that security operatives subsequently removed the restaurant's CCTV equipment and accessed the recordings. He also alleged that the governor hurriedly denied that there was nothing like the tracking of stolen phones and devices to the governor's lodge. Sowore questioned the police announcement that 11 suspects had been arrested, describing them as "fake people" presented to divert attention from the actual perpetrators.
Key points
- Sowore alleges Asefon collected money from Abuja to organize the attack.
- Sowore claims police officers abandoned him during the attack.
- Sowore disputes police account of his rescue.
