Isale-Eko killing: ‘I alerted police about the planned attack’

A niece to the slain member of All Progressives Congress (APC), Otun Azeez alias Asake, has disclosed that she knew of the planned attack by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and had tried to alert the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Adeniji Adele Police Station. Azeez was allegedly killed on Saturday at Isale-Eko, Lagos State by people suspected to be PDP thugs. But Azeez’s niece, Mrs Ola Williams, said she did not know that the victim of the attack would be Asake. She said: “When I got wind of the planned attack, I rushed to the police station.
When I got to the station, I was told the DPO was not ‘on seat’. I called him. He said he was with the President at the rally. He then assigned someone to follow me to the scene.
He also asked me to be security conscious. “I hid somewhere, monitoring the activities of the PDP members. I never knew my uncle had gone out to pacify them to embrace peace, before he was killed.”
The residents of the area said Azeez would have been sworn in yesterday as the chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Isale Eko branch. Asake was alleged to have been murdered shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to Lagos on Saturday. The fight between the two parties was said to have claimed six lives, with one from APC and five from PDP. But the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ngozi Braide, said two people were shot and rushed to hospital by the police.
It was also gathered that the late Azeez was in his house that fateful morning, when someone alerted him that one Balogun, a chieftain of the PDP and his boys, were fomenting trouble in the area. Immediately he heard the news, Azeez was said to have rushed to the scene, to know if some of his boys were among the fighters. Witnesses claimed that part of his intention was to also pacify Balogun’s and his boys. Azeez’s son, Usman Otun, 23, said the deceased just came back from an APC meeting that morning.
“He was resting when we heard the noise of some residents who were running for safety. The road had been shut down. My dad came out of the house and went to Balogun and his boys. He begged them to spare the traders and mind their rally. When we got to Adeniji Adele Plaza junction, gunshots came from nowhere and hit him twice. He fell down.
“When I was making efforts to save his life, I was also shot in my left thigh. Eight pellets were extracted from my thigh at the Island Hospital.” Mr Adeyinka Macaulay, the deceased’s step brother, said that he was not around when the incident happened, adding that it was Azeez’s wife who alerted him. The widow, Alhaja Kayat Otun, alleged that Balogun had been threatening her husband for almost two years. She added that Balogun wanted to take be in charge of the whole Island. Apparently, her husband had been a stumbling block to Balogun’s dream.”
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