Unknown gunmen have attacked a father of three and his family at Igboroko-Nla community in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State. The father of three, Mr Bamidele Olowosagba, made this disclosure at Owo police station after he was attacked at his residence on Tuesday.
It was gathered that the gunmen, brandishing dangerous weapons that included cutlasses, machetes and locally made guns, attacked Mr Olowosagba along with her three daughters, Oluwademilade Olowosagba, Oluwatobiloba Olowosagba and Anjolaoluwa Olowosagba along with his wife, Mrs Omotola Olowosagba.
Mr Olowosagba, while narrating the incident, stated that the gunmen gained entrance into his house at about 10:00pm, on that fateful Tuesday night, went into his bedroom and attacked them with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.
Speaking at the Saint Louis Hospital in Oke-Ogun, Owo, on who she suspected to have carried out the attack, Mrs Olowosagba, who had parts of her body in bandage, along with her husband, stated that it was not the first time her family had been attacked by unknown gunmen.
She said, “Since my husband, Mr Olowosagba, in 2014 refused to take over his late father’s position as the chief in charge of rituals in his home town in Ondo State, we have been attacked by gunmen three times. It was because of the attack that we left Lagos for Kwara State in 2015.
“I believe those behind the attack are the same people who are after our lives. When the attackers came, they were asking for my husband. It was after I told them I didn’t know where he was that they attacked me with machete.”
A family member, Chief Adekanbi Adisa, informed our reporter that Mr Olowosagba was also hospitalised recently after some unknown gunmen attacked him on his way to Ile-Ife in Osun State. He added that the gunmen escaped after dropping a note that indicated that unless he provided himself to carry out a ritual for a dead monarch, he would continue to suffer.
“They came in two vehicles, a white Hilux van and a sports utility vehicle; they said they came from Ondo State to fetch Bamidele. We saw two men with grey hair in the Hilux van who they claimed were the chiefs who were to perform the ritual, but they did not allow us to go near the vehicles,” he said.
The latest attack has created tension in the Igboroko-Nla community as residents staged a protest in front of the Owo Police Station in solidarity with the family.
However, the Ondo State Police Command has promised to find those behind the attack, saying policemen had been deployed to the area to avoid a repeat of the incident. The police asked the people of the community to remain calm and support security agencies to investigate the attack and apprehend the perpetrators.
