Four armed men, suspected to be hired assassins, invaded the Abuja residence of a senator from Kwara State, Gbemisola Saraki, daughter of Olusola Saraki, the Second Republic senate leader, in the early hours of yesterday, after overpowering her security aides.The men undertook a meticulous search of the entire building, looking for Ms Saraki, but had to abandon their mission when they couldn’t locate the senator who had travelled out of Abuja days earlier, after the Senate announced its recess.
The men, who made enough racket to wake up all the senator’s aides and other residents living in the building, had arrived around 1am yesterday and proceeded to search the rooms, demanding to see Mrs Saraki.
“They came around with sophisticated weapons,” a family member said. “Ms. Saraki was however not at home when the suspected assassins forced their way into her house. They took her security aides and other members of her family hostage, demanding her whereabouts.” According to eyewitness account, the thugs were speaking in Yoruba, Ms Saraki’s language, claiming that they were sent from Ilorin, her home state, to kill the senator..
Emmanuel Ojukwu, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police, said in a telephone that the police is treating the crime as a “burglary and theft attempt.” He also said that his men have not discovered any new information on the incident.
Family sources however said the armed men ransacked Ms Saraki’s house and locked her family inside a room after they could not find her.
A member of the family said the raid lasted for almost one hour and the police only arrived the scene hours after the men had left.
The senate leadership condemned the attack and asked the police to commence immediate investigation. “We received with shock news of the attempt on the life of Senator Gbemisola Saraki,” Ayogu Eze, the senate spokesperson said. “We condemn the violation of the sanctity of Ms. Saraki’s household and the abuse of the constitutional rights of her relations and domestic staff. We call on the Inspector General of Police and other security agencies to step into this matter and fish out the master-minds and the culprits in this heinous act.”
Ms Saraki could not be reached for her comments hours after the incident. However, on her Facebook page, she posted the message that, “The protection of Allah shall be banner over the lives of souls whose paths are always shining light on others.”
Bad omen for 2011
Ms Saraki, who switched to the senate in 2003 after she had spent four years as a member of the House of Representatives, hopes to take over from her brother, Bukola Saraki, as the governor of Kwara State. The brother, whose final tenure ends next year, is reportedly not keen on handing over to his sister.
One of her aides said the fact that the men claimed to be from Ilorin might mean that some people were trying to frighten her away from the contest or worse, to ensure that she was in no position to contest.
Mr Eze said Nigerians should stop employing violence in politics.
“Politics of violence and brigandage belong to our regrettable past and any attempt to return us to that inglorious era is unfortunate and completely unacceptable,” he said.
“Political or other differences should be resolved through dialogue and consensus building and not by recourse to thuggery and arm-twisting. Our new politics should not be foreshadowed by threats of violence and thuggery. This development obviously sends a wrong signal and we urge the police to deal with this matter comprehensively.”
