No gun was recovered from my car, TOOAN chair, Abiola insists

The Lagos State Chairman of Tricycle Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN), Alhaji Azeez Abiola, popularly known as Istijaba, has denied that a gun was recovered from his car by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force.

He maintained that the entire scene playing out was a ploy to implicate him, by persons who do not want him as chairman of TOOAN.

It would be recalled that the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) arrested Abiola and four other suspects for attempting to cause mayhem in Agege, with a pump-action rifle allegedly recovered from his car.
 
Although all the suspects have since been released, Abiola claimed that his ordeal started after the national president of the National Union of Road Workers (NURTW) announced him as the state chairman of TOOAN.

He claimed that a day after his emergence, he was invited to a meeting at the State NURTW Headquarters in Agege, but while he was filling the attendance form, some touts swooped on him and started hitting him. He said he escaped and rushed to his car where he was held hostage amid attempts to eliminate him.

According to him, he was saved when RRS operatives arrived at the scene upon invitation. Abiola claimed that he and his car were searched, but nothing was found after which he was taken to the RRS office.

“Rather than allow me to leave, the officers asked that I must accompany them to the RRS office at Alausa, which I complied with. It was at the RRS office that I started hearing that a gun was found inside my car and the officer that found the gun later confessed that the gun was found within the Headquarters of the NURTW after I left. Six policemen searched the car and they did not find anything.”

The Public Affairs Officer of RRS, Malik Nasir, also confirmed that the gun was not found in Abiola’s car, but within the premises of the NURTW.