Travails of OPC chieftain
‘Help! Some faceless assassins are after my life’
By OYE OGUNWALE
Saturday, April 26, 2008

•Otunba Kazeem Badmus Photo: THE SUN PUBLISHING

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The deputy leader of the Fredrick Fasehun faction of the OPC, Mr Kazeem Badmus, has alleged threat to his life by some unidentified persons.
Badmus who was arrested and charged to court over the alleged murder of the leader of the Lagos State chapter of National Union of Road Transport Workers, Salaudeen Saula, since he regained freedom, has alleged that there are people who are after his life and want him dead at all costs.

The question is who are the people that want Badmus dead?
For the past four months, 38-year-old Badmus has tasted the bitter side of life. He lost his wife and first daughter while in detention for alleged murder. Now, he is crying out to the security agencies, that some faceless assassins are after his life.

Ordeal
Narrating his ordeal to Saturday Sun, Badmus, alleged that some individuals have been after his life since the court freed him of the murder charge. He said: “I was arrested on February 29, 2008. A week before then, I lost my 16-year old daughter to kidney dysfunction. That very day, I was home with my wife when I was called by Dr. Fredrick Fasehun that the Deputy Commissioner of Police at the State Criminal Investigations Department, SCID, Panti wanted to see me. I was told that some people alleged that I was one of those that killed Saula. I called the DC immediately and he confirmed that some people said that I knew about Saula’s death and I went to Panti the following day.

When I got there, the DC called the investigating police officer, IPO, and I was asked where I was on the day of Saula’s death. I told the police that I was with my wife in our house and the only time I went out was when I went to my site in Amuwo and I was back in my house by 7.00p.m. It was even on the radio that I heard that Saula was dead. I wrote my statement and I was not allowed to go home. I was at the SCID for three weeks. The police told me that they were conducting investigations into the murder. I was later charged to court. At the end of the day, the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, said that I had no case to answer and I was released.

‘During my arrest, because my wife was mourning our daughter, when she heard that I was arrested and was to be killed, she fell sick. I sent her a message, telling her to take heart because I was innocent and believed that no harm would befall me. But her mind was not at rest and she eventually died of shock. She was buried in my absence and we did her eight days remembrance three days after I was released.

‘Around 1.00a.m on that fateful day, some people came to my house with two buses loaded with arms and ammunition. They broke the door to my house but I was not at home. When I learnt that armed men were in my house, I reported the matter at Makinde police station and the cops went to my house and recovered the bus with arms and ammunition.

‘I don’t know who is after my life. I don’t know anything about Saula’s murder. I never knew Saula in his lifetime and I’m not a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW. I have also been receiving anonymous calls from strange people. I don’t want to do anything that would make people say that members of OPC are fomenting trouble.
‘Of all that happened, my wife’s death remains the most painful.

Concerned members
Speaking with Saturday Sun, the National Publicity Secretary of the OPC, Edward Olusola Ajayi said that OPC was not ready to take the death threats personal. According to him, the organization believes that the police are capable of handling the issue. He said: ‘My impression about the whole issue is that there are some plans by some forces to implicate our leader in the whole unfortunate incident of Saula’s death, because of subsequent events that happened after Otunba had gone to court and was dismissed for want of evidence.

He had just had the eight-day prayers for his deceased wife. On the night of that day, I got a call that a group of gunmen invaded Otunba Kazeem’s house at 1 a.m. It was baffling, this is a man that had just gone through hell and is being subjected to such horror. We reported the case at the Makinde Police Station and the DPO said he would take the case to the State CID. From the OPC end, we have summoned the Oshodi-Isolo Co-Ordinator, Sunday Adeola, to map out how we’re going to protect ourselves. Immediately it is 8p.m, Otunba’s street would be under strict surveillance and some degree of curfew would be imposed. We want to call on the Lagos State Government and the state police command to ensure the safety of our leader.’

According to Mr. Sunday Adeola, Secretary, Oshodi-Isolo OPC, we cannot afford the loss of someone as important as Otunba Kazeem Badmus. The man has suffered enough. He was incarcerated; he lost his dear ones, his wife and daughter. It is saddening that heartless people should still be gunning for him. Part of the blame should be placed at the doorsteps of the OPC who, though protect the neighborhood and neglect the security of its leaders. However, our orientation has changed now because we have been taught a bitter lesson. This kind of incidents would not happen again and we’re appealing to the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of lives of the people, irrespective of tribe or language.