By Chinelo Obogo

A convoy belonging to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, allegedly assaulted a staff of the Commercial Department of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, yesterday.

In a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage obtained by Daily Sun, a convoy of black Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) was seen driving towards the tollgate and, at one of the booths, the first car passed and the automatic barrier went down before the second car in the convoy could pass the booth. The security officials got angry and alighted from the vehicle and began to physically assault a man later identified to be a staff of the commercial department of FAAN. The dark complexioned victim (name withheld), who was assaulted wore a tee-shirt on a pair of jeans trousers.

A reliable source at FAAN, who witnessed the incident, told Daily Sun that the police officers who are usually stationed at the tollgate identified their colleagues in the convoy as those working for the Speaker. Daily Sun also confirmed that Gbajabiamila was not present in the convoy as he had been dropped off at one of the private hangars at the airport area, while his convoy was returning when the incident happened.

“About 3.40pm on Sunday, November, 21, a convoy belonging to the Speaker of the House of Representatives wanted to pass through the tollgate and they demanded that the barrier be lifted, so the cars would drive through at once. But it is not possible because it is automated and it only allows one car to pass through at a time. When the first car in the convoy passed through, the barrier came down and the driver now asked the FAAN staff that was manning that particular booth why he allowed the barrier to come down, and the staff told him that it is automated and can only take one car at a time.

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“The policeman that was in front then asked the driver why he had to stop for the barrier to go up and down instead of just breaking through. Then the orderly that was sitting at the back came down and asked the police officer to deal with the guy. They then dragged him from the booth and started beating him. The Speaker was not in the convoy. They dropped him at Quits Aviation private hangar and were returning, that is when it happened. The FAAN staff did not even ask them for a toll fee because they don’t usually pay. But they were not patient enough to wait for the barrier to be lifted before they dragged him out and beat him up.

(Continued on www.sunnewsonline.com)

Daily Sun was reliably informed that the policemen on duty at the tollgate, who witnessed the incident, have filed a report of the assault with the Lagos Commissioner of Police and the airport manager, while the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, have also been informed and investigations have commenced.

When Daily Sun contacted the Speaker’s media aide, Lanre Lasisi, said he could not immediately confirm if the incident happened. He, however, assured that a thorough investigation would be carried out.   

This is not the first time that the speaker’s convoy would be involved in an assault. In November last year, Gbajabiamila confirmed in a statement that a police aide attached to him shot dead a newspaper vendor in Abuja.