Newly elected member of the House of Representatives for Ado-Odo/Ota Federal constituency in Ogun State, Engr Tunji Akinosi, has allegedly attacked a female activist, Abiodun Thomas, who was making a case for a hawker who had been hit by his car.
Daily Trust reports that the incident occurred at Onikan, Lagos, on Monday.
Our correspondent gathered that Akinosi’s black Prado Jeep brushed the hawker and he fell on the ground, groaning in pains.
The female activist and some of her colleagues were said to have waded in and demanded that the victim be given medical treatment by the Rep-elect who is the immediate past Commissioner for Forestry in Ogun State.
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In the process, there was an altercation as Akinosi and Thomas called each other names like “stupid” and “foolish.”
A short clip of the scene obtained by Daily Trust showed angry Akinosi charged towards Thomas who was recording the drama with her phone, saying “Madam, if you do that I am going to injure you.”
In another clip, Akinosi insisted that the hawker broke his car’s side mirror and only feigned injury to escape his wrath.
While covering the incident, Thomas told Daily Trust that Akinosi snatched her phone and smashed it on the ground.
“He wanted to slap me, I waved it but his hand touched my head,” she told our correspondent in a telephone interview.
Narrating the incident, Thomas said, “When the driver of the Jeep alighted from the car, he was holding a side mirror, which had been detached from the vehicle. Nothing happened to the side mirror, the plastic had been broken. He walked up to the man who was still groaning with pain, and just said “sorry, bye bye.”
“He was about leaving, but I said he could not leave. I insisted he must not be allowed to leave.
“Myself and about two other comrades went to the Jeep and asked the owner to come down from the vehicle and do the needful, either he apologies to the man or takes care of him.
“When he got down from the vehicle, he was justifying the action. He said the guy was pretending so that he won’t fix the mirror broken.
“His posture got me upset and I started recording with my phone. I told him if nobody can identify him, I know he is a politician in Ogun State and a Rep-elect. I said he is already intoxicated with power within few months after election.
“He called me a stupid woman and I told him he’s a foolish man.
“He told me that he would injure me. He collected my phone from me forcefully and smashed it on the ground. As I am speaking with you, the phone screen is now faulty.”
Thomas further said she was dragged away from the scene by her colleagues because “They were afraid of leaving me there with him.”
She said she wanted to take the matter up, but her mother asked her to let go of it.
Akinosi denies allegations, says ‘there is no iota of truth in it’
When contacted, Akinosi said he neither attacked the lady nor smashed her phone.
“A phone would be smashed, and the owner would not report to the police that is less than 50 meters away (from the scene)?,” he asked.
He said, “There’s no iota of truth in the statement above!
“Earlier today (Monday) at Onikan, an individual hawking drinks in a bid to outrun his fellow hawkers to sell drinks to people in a bus in front of my vehicle hit the side mirror of my vehicle and the mirror fell down. The guy, coming to realization of what happened quickly sat on the floor feigning injury.
“My driver left the vehicle insisting he must replace the mirror; I was in the car receiving calls.
“Suddenly people came hitting the vehicle, shouting your vehicle broke someone’s leg and you are sitting in the car!
“I came down from the vehicle to ask them if they really saw what happened?
“I told them that as adults, assumptions in situations like that was wrong, I then insisted that we all take the guy to the hospital for verification and if truly he was injured I will take responsibility otherwise he will pay for the mirror damaged!
“At that point the guy confessed he was not injured and some other onlookers crossed over to tell the true story!
“At no time was any phone snatched or smashed! A phone would be smashed, and the owner would not report to the police that is less than 50 meters away?
“Instead the person will run to a reporter? Thank God there are laws now against false statements, claims and reports! What do individuals gain by lying against public officials?”
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