• says he pays N1m in dues daily on his vehicles daily
The embattled State Chairman of the Tricycle Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN) Alhaji Abiola, known as Istijaba has fingered the State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (MC Oluomo) behind his ordeal.
Istijaba was arrested yesterday by the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad sand alleged to be behind the NURTW/TOOAN clash in some part of the state.
But in a short video clip which went viral on Friday, Istijaba alleged that the whole scene was a set up by Olu-Omo and he narrowly escaped being killed, and in a surprising twist got arrested and alleged to be in possession of a gun.
Istijaba who alleged that it was all a power game said the whole set up was because Olu-Omo wanted to wrestle TOOAN from him.
Incidentally, he said, he was announced yesterday as the state chairman of the Tricycle and Motorcycle owners and operators.
He said he had no fewer than 3,000 tricycles and motorcycles and over a thousand buses operating every day in Lagos.
Istijaba in the short video said though Olu-Omo had planned to kill him and when that failed, had decided to implicate him by planting a gun in his car, a move which failed, he was released by the police and has since returned to his house.
Narrating his ordeal, Istijaba said he had received a letter from the NURTW State Chairman for a meeting at their Agege state Secretariat for yesterday.
According to him, unknown to him, the meeting was a set up to have him killed, as hardly had he stepped out of his car and was putting down his name in the register that Olu-Omo boys started molesting him.
“I ran back into my car and the boys started attacking the vehicle. They tried breaking the glass, but they could not and even planned to burn the car when one of them ordered them to stop and paved the way for how I escaped.”
All this while, Istijaba alleged that Olu-Omo was around but said nothing. When the police arrived, he (Olu-Omo) was even the one who was telling them I have gun in my car.
“The police team search my car in my presence and saw nothing. They took me to the RRS office and later a policeman came with a pump action gun, but when he was interrogated, the policeman said he found the gun on the floor. They wanted to plant the gun in my car, but God did not allow them.”
He said he has nothing to grind with Olu-Omo and is not contesting anything with him.
Istijaba, warned Olu-Omo to stop using the name of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to perpetuate evil, as the leading politician did not send him on devilish errands to do stabilise the transport union.
Watch the video here: