Remi Adefulu
Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Moshood Salvador has accused a former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Bode George of complicity in his arrest and detention over the murder of the chairman of the party in Apapa Local Government, Mr. Adeniyi Aborishade in July, an allegation George has denied.
Addressing members of the party in Maryland area of the state Thursday night, Salvador alleged that George and his supporters cooked up the story that he was behind the killing of Aborishade.
He said the party had organised several local government visitations after discovering that the assemblies it was holding in Oregun area of the state could no longer contain the members of the party.
“We did the first and second assemblies in Oregun and about 4,000 members were in attendance in each gathering. We were doing the assemblies in Oregun because our party secretariat could not accommodate more than 1,000 people. Each assembly costs me about N10million and I spend about N3 million on the party monthly.
“What I want is the success of the party at the polls. I want to win Lagos for the PDP in my time. You can imagine that we lost seven out of eight members of the PDP in the State House of Assembly to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year and yet these people are not moved.
“They want to be the de facto leaders. I will work hard to put our people in public offices to stop us from suffering.”
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Salvador revealed that he and other leaders of the party had visited about 13 local governments and that they were in Epe and Ibeju Lekki Local Governments on the fateful day, adding that they saw the trouble makers before they moved to Eti Osa Local Government.
“The security was tight in the first two local governments we visited, but trouble started when we got to Eti-Osa Local Government. The party chairman there threw the table away and crisis started. I was rushed into my car and we later heard that Aborishade was killed. I had left the premises before the killing.
“They cooked up the story that I was behind the killing. However, everything was recorded by video cameras there.
“The Police, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the military did their investigations. They put all the evidences together and stopped my prosecution in the court,” he said.
The politician revealed that he received a call from the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Panti over the matter and was asked to come with witnesses, but was arrested and arraigned alongside the witnesses before they were all remanded in Ikoyi Prison.
He said: “Let it be a thing of the past so that we can move forward. I decided not to speak to the press on the matter until today. I want to thank the media for their support, while I was in detention. They did their job the way it should be done through investigative journalism.”
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Salvador denied complicity in the murder, saying that he was arrested based on falsehood, while thanking God for his vindication.
According to him, the elders and caucus committees he inaugurated were consistent with the constitution of the party, and revealed that “Chief Bode George duplicated the committees in his house, but the national body rejected his own version.”
However, George speaking through his Media Adviser, Uthman Shodipe, distanced himself from the accusation, saying neither he nor his supporters knew anything about the matter.