THE Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Isaac Babalola Owolabi, was, last week Friday, attacked in Ibadan by people suspected to be hired killers, as he narrowly escaped death.Narrating his experience to journalists in Ibadan, at the weekend, at a press conference held at the Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Dr Owolabi said the incident occurred at about 8.30p.m on Friday at Mokola Roundabout where he had gone to fuel his car.According to him, at about 8.30p.m last week Friday night, I negotiated to the Conoil petrol station at Mokola Roundabout to get my car filled with fuel.As I disembarked from the car and went to the station, it was not up to two minutes while I was trying to make an enquiry, that some four to six hefty men attacked me from behind and they tried to snuff life out of me.Since self-defence is a major law of nature, I did all I could to fight back so as to save my life and in the process, the whole petrol station and part of Mokola was thrown intopandemonium. The scuffle which lasted for 20 minutes, made people within and around the station to run fordear lives because my attackers who were on a mission to kill me had with them sophisticated weapons like pump action guns, knives, bottles, charms and other dangerous weapons.But God was so good to me as I was able to escape their bullets, he stated.The health commissionersaid there werewitnesses to the incident, adding that one of the witnesses, a man even followed him to the Mokola police station to make a report of the assassination attempt.Answering questions from journalists after narrating his experience, Dr Owolabi said there wasconnection between what happened to him on Friday night at Mokola and the assault he suffered at the hands of political thugs loyal to the state governor at the state secretariat, Ibadan, after the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting last week Wednesday.Explaining what happened to him after the (SEC) meeting, Dr Owolabi said, At the end of the State Executive Council meeting of Wednesday, May 4, 2011, I was similarly assaulted by political thugs right in front of the Governors Office to the surprise of all onlookers, including the state governor himself.Honestly, to my utmost amazement, there was no form of caution, condemnation or any form of intervention from the governor.In his reaction, the Special Adviser tothe Oyo State governor on Public Communications, Prince Dotun Oyelade, said it was uncharitable for the state commissioner to infer under any guise that Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala knew about his attack.The governors aide said in Ibadan, on Sunday,that one failed to understand why Owolabi would crave for such publicity even while he remained a part of the outgoing administration.According to him, the commissioner should search his conscience and let the world know the exact reason he had to make such an unfounded allegation.He should stop hiding behind the mask. In other words, Dr Owolabi can defect, decamp or turn coat but he should do it decently, the governors aide declared.When contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta, said it was a case of assault.According to him, the commissionerwas assaulted at a petrol station by three people and has been given police protection since then.
Click here to read full news..
