A former commissioner for Works and Transportation in Osun State, Remi Omowaiye, on Friday narrowly escaped assassination at a market in Ilesa.
The assailants shot sporadically and attacked Mr Omowaiye with stones and bottles at a spare parts market in Isita area of Ilesa. He was in the market to distribute food items to traders as gifts for the festive season.
Mr Omowaiye served as commissioner under the administration of former governor Gboyega Oyetola.
Witnesses said the assailants arrived at the market on motorcycles at 6:22 p.m and started pelting the former commissioner and his aides with missiles before resorting to shooting sporadically.
Confirming the incident to our reporter, Mr Omowaiye said some of his aides were stabbed and one of his security details was severely injured by a stone that hit his face
“They injured one of my security attache, they pelted him with stones, they stabbed some of my boys,” he said
Mr Omowaiye said the thugs also damaged three vehicles in his convoy with bullets.
“We had like four to five vehicles in the convoy but it was three vehicles that were inside the market. They broke the windscreen of the vehicle I entered and the vehicle behind me was riddled with bullets and the glass was broken,” he added.
He said the injured persons were still receiving treatment at a hospital as of the time he spoke with our reporter Saturday morning.
“Those injured were rushed to the hospital yesterday, one of them lost so much blood.”
Narrating how the incident happened, the former commissioner said he was at the market to share cows and rice to the traders to rejoice with them for the festive season.
He stated that name of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, was inscribed on the cows he took to the market.