October 17: How Oyetola, others cheated death

By: Ismail Omipidan

A Nigerian Journalist and Political Communication Specialist, Ismail Omipidan, writes on how himself and others escaped being killed by hoodlums during 2020 EndSARS protest.

Each time I remember Endsars, I give glory to God that I am alive to tell the story. The story you are about to read is an excerpts from my upcoming book. Enjoy it:

We had travelled to Lagos to attend a programme of wives of executive members of the Lagos State Cabinet. After the event, we realised that we could no longer return to Osogbo because of the blockade mounted by EndSARS protesters at Lekki Tollgate. We spent extra two days stranded at Eko Hotel. The night before our departure from Lagos, we had a strategy meeting where we agreed that my principal would not address protesters on that day. But to prevent the notion that protesters were ignored, even though my principal did not address them personally, government officials were engaging the protesters from time to time.

I was in my apartment at about 2 pm when I remembered I had to attend a meeting with the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to my principal Dauda Ismail, and other like minds. I headed for the Government House immediately for the meeting. It was when I got there that I realised that my principal was preparing to go out to address protesters. I was surprised because that was not our agreement. At that point, I remembered that I had not observed my Suhr prayer. A negative thought – “it will be unwise to owe debt of prayer and die” – cropped up in my mind, which I rebuked immediately. I performed ablution and opted to pray. I was heading for the section where we normally observed our prayers when I was informed of the readiness of the convoy to move. I decided I was going to complete the prayer inside the car. Again, I could not until we got to Alekunwodo when we were all asked to alight from the vehicle, including my principal. We trekked to Olaiya, chanting solidarity song all the way. Once we got to Olaiya, my principal was treated like a student.

The protesters, led by one Olawale Bakare, a.k.a. Mandate, turned the scenario to a teacher- student relationship where my principal was asked to apologise, the first, second and third time which he did for not coming to address them before the day. They asked him questions in the course of his address to them. Before then, there was a lady, who was holding the national flag; she accosted one of the members of my team, a camera man, and asked him to stop capturing the event. I pleaded with her to allow the camera man do the recording because he was doing his job. Instead of listening to me, she slapped another member of my team. I quickly intervened before the assaulted staff could retaliate as he was already charging at her. If not for my intervention, we would have been accused of instigating a crisis.

We continued with the protest until I started sensing danger. I reached out to The Escort commander and told him that my principal was spending too much time with the protesters. The place was already getting tensed too. The Assistant Commissioner of Police, who assured us of adequate security was nowhere to be found. My intuition sensed an impending crisis, but I could not grasp its nature. As I approached one of our vehicles to seek refuge, I spotted two men armed with guns. Realising that entering the first vehicle I spotted may put me at a risk of being targeted, I waited for an opportunity to escape from the prying eyes of the gunmen and it came following some distractions from the crowd.

Once that happened, I managed to slip into the CSO’s vehicle, finding temporary safety. Barely five minutes after, they started throwing pebbles, pure water at my principal. The whole place turned upside down as hard-core stones, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons were freely used. Nonetheless, my principal instructed his security aides not to fire a single shot. I must commend the then ADC to my principal and other security aides because they ensured that we left the place safely without any harm to anyone and without firing any shot. They even axed the staff car of my principal. I commended DSS operative, Abdulmumeen, who drove the vehicle in front of me. They tried to demobilise him, but he displayed bravery and courage and led us to safety. If they had succeeded in demobilising him, all of us would have been dead by now.

To show that the attack was premeditated, they pursued my principal with stones even after escaping from the scene. He was lucky but we were not as lucky as him. By the time we got to Dele Yessir Roundabout, they had barricaded the roads and we had to make a detour. While trying to escape, the escort commander advised the driver to drive towards Ede, I said “Ede what? When most of the attackers are from Ede”. I then asked that we drive to DSS headquarters. It was at the DSS office that I observed my Suhr prayer which I was supposed to have observed before going to the protest ground. Before getting to DSS office, I had posted on my Facebook account of what happened.

To my surprise, Davido and Sowore had tweeted that my principal had killed two persons at the protest ground. We struggled to debunk the lie but till date, Davido and Sowore have not deemed it fit to apologise for the lie because the two people who died on that day did not die at Olaiya, venue of the protest.

On our arrival at the protest venue, one of the conveners of the protest, Comrade Ayo Ologun, announced publicly and urged my principal and his entourage to sympathise with one of them who fell from a bike and that we should promise to take up the medical bill. The second deceased person, died at Oke Aiyepe, several miles from Olaiya. My Principal did not go through Oke Aiyepe on that fateful day. From findings, the second deceased person died in a clash with a rival cult group. I struggled all through the night to debunk the lie. I remember I made the video in Hausa, English and Yoruba languages because I needed the world to know what was happening.

My principal’s phone was being bombarded with calls and messages to the extent that when I asked him to do a broadcast giving account of what happened to the state; he insisted that I should fix the issue with Sowore’s tweet before, he would do the broadcast.
I was visibly stressed and the idea of doing the video occurred; hence, the video was done to further debunk the lies. Here, I must single out for commendation Comrade Kehinde Ayantunji, former NUJ chairman, who also served the Oyetola’s administration as Senior Special Assistant on Students’ Affairs and Youth Mobilisation, and Mr Waheed Adekunle (Prof), who also served as Special Assistant to the Governor on Media. They gave me their back to lean on from day one when I arrived in the state.

It was after I did those videos that my principal accepted to read his speech. We did that and this happened on a Friday. By Saturday, I was listening to a radio programme when I heard that they were looting a warehouse in Ede. Then, attacks on innocent citizens started in some towns with target on some APC leaders in the state. I lived not too far from the Government House and the residence of Senator Ajibola Bashir (SRJ), who later became the National Secretary of APC. The crowd was advancing towards my quarters. We had given up, considering the population of the mob and the suddenness of the protest. There was no significant security measure in place. I and other cabinet members, who lived around the place started planning our escape, including planning to jump over the fence. Somehow, someone told the crowd to divert to SRJ’s house instead. As we saw the diversion, we escaped to the Government House. I was dressed in my pyjamas. It was at that point that I advised my principal to declare a curfew. A meeting was held and it was agreed that a curfew was the best decision at the point.

Let me add that despite having the videos of those who unleashed the terror of October 17, 2020 on my principal, including tracing one of the attackers to a former Osun governor, no arrest was made till date.