A landlord, Olushina Dairo, has lost the use of his eyes as a result of an alleged attack by a fellow landlord, Sulaimon Badmus, over unpaid security dues in the Araromi/Mupin community, Iyana Iyesi area of Ogun State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that Olushina was part of the team that was mobilised to collect security dues from residents.
It was learnt that Badmus allegedly attacked Olushina by using a manual digger to hit him on the head while he was going from house to house to collect the dues.
The Chairman, Araromi Community Development Association, Fatai Hamidu, said Olushina was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital and was subsequently transferred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
Hamidu stated, “The issue stemmed from a communal crisis. The former chairman was impeached over alleged misappropriation of funds and this led to the division of the association into two factions. Olushina is with our faction, while the other man, who used the digger to hit him, is one of our executive members, but we did not know that he was working for the other faction.
“On the day of the incident, we were moving from house to house to collect security dues. We had not got to the front of Badmus’ house when we suddenly heard a loud cry and people shouting that someone had been killed.
“I saw that Olushina was already on the floor in a pool of his own blood. We rushed him to the nearest hospital and he was subsequently transferred to LASUTH, but he is not getting any better; he can’t see with his eyes. The first operation has been done and the doctors say another operation will be performed on him in six months.
Olushina’s wife, Deborah, who said she was not at home when the incident happened, alleged that the action of her husband’s attacker was deliberate.
The mother of three said, “I was not at home on the day of the incident. On my way back home, I heard people shouting for help. When I got home, I did not meet my children and by the time I got to where the incident took place, I saw my husband on the floor.
“I was told that someone on the street, known as ‘Onicandle’, hit my husband with a digger. They said the landlords were having a meeting and Badmus just brought out a digger to hit him and since then, we have been battling to save his life.
“We recently just moved to the area. Before we moved in, we learnt that the former chairman was impeached for alleged misappropriation of funds. We learnt that the community wanted to get electricity from a company and the former chairman was allegedly collecting money but did not do anything.
“The man who attacked my husband with the digger is one of the followers of the former chairman. The whole incident was a conspiracy and a deliberate act, because the former chairman and his gang had threatened to foment trouble so that they could have the seat back.”
The Ogun State indigene said the culprit failed to attend to the medical bills of her husband until the police came to visit Olushina at the hospital, adding that her husband needed all the help he could get to make him see again.
Deborah said, “When the incident happened, instead of the culprit and his cohorts to rally around and show concern for my husband, they hired a lawyer to bail the attacker after he was arrested by the police.
“An initial operation was carried out on my husband’s head costing N600,000. The police came to visit my husband at the hospital on the day the first operation was performed and when they saw the extent of the damage done, the case was transferred from the Ota Police Station to the state Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta.
“My husband is to undergo another surgery in six months’ time. The community was able to support but my husband has not been able to use his eyes. He needs all the assistance he can get to make him see again.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that Badmus was charged to the Ota Magistrates’ Court and remanded in the Ibara Prison, Abeokuta, while the case was adjourned till April 5, 2019.
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