Aide battered mercilessly
The All Progressives Congress women leader in Lagos state, Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, has escaped an attack by hoodlums, who allegedly attempted to hack her down at the party secretariat in Lagos.
Our correspondent gathered that the attackers, who were three in number, had aimed at hacking the politician at the entrance of her office before one of her aides, Alhaja Abiodun, foiled the attempt and sustained severe machete cuts.
Explaining how the incident occurred, a source at the party secretariat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said; “The fight was a result of an issue between Mrs. Kemi Nelson and Hon. Okoya-Thomas. Supporters of the duo have been in serious quarrel for a while now. While they went to Ekiti for Fayemi’s mega rally, the supporters nearly fought, likewise when they went to Epe recently. But I learnt the leadership was making efforts to settle the rift.”
On the recent attack, in which physical injury was sustained by Alhaja Abiodun, she explained: “On that fateful day, Hon. Kemi was with the chairman for a discussion which I believed to be on the same issue. All of a sudden, we heard noise from the passage at the entrance of Hon. Kemi’s office. Later we saw Alhaja Biodun in blood with her face and neck hacked… In the long run, the chairman intervened and asked her to be taken for a treatment.”
Alhaja Abiodun, while narrating her ordeal, said the attack was aimed at her boss.
“They wanted to attack aunty Jumoke before they attacked me. I wanted to go and call the driver for my boss. As I got outside; they bounced on me. They were three in number. There were two ladies and one other guy. The man among them held my hand and gripped me, while they ladies pounded on me… The chairman later came and informed them to treat me,” she stated.
Alhaja Abiodun further explained that her efforts to report the case at Ogba Police Command were initially truncated when police officers on duty refused to take her statement .
“On getting to Ogba police command, the Policemen asked us where the incident took place we said at Acme, and they followed us there. Upon return to their station, the policemen refused to collect my statement again. And I learnt that Mrs Nelson had called them. Later, I went to Zone 2 where my statement was taken and they promised to act on it”, Alhaja Abiodun recounted.
