Tuesday, March 11, 2025 - Unknown assailants have k!lled a politician, Oluwatosin Onamade, in the Ijede area of Ikorodu, Lagos State.
Onamade, an aspirant for the chairmanship position of Ijede Local
Council Development Area under the banner of the All Progressives Congress, was
sh0t and macheted to d3ath on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
His distraught brother, Oluwafemi Onamade, who managed to speak
with Punch, lamented that the
assailants had been trailing the deceased before the unfortunate day.
According to Femi, the assailants were clad in black outfits with no one
seeing their faces.
Femi, who had once survived a similar attack alongside his brother, said
the gunmen used a machete on the deceased when the bullets earlier fired from
their guns did not penetrate his body.
“It happened around 9 pm on Saturday. They were two gunmen. They were
wearing black outfits and no one could recognise them. His aide said he could
not wait when he heard gunshots. They shot at him and macheted him in front of
his house. It happened at his house in Ijede, Oluwatosin Onamade Street. The
street is named after him,” he narrated.
“They shot him. When the bullets did not penetrate in time, they used
machetes on his head and face,” he said.
Femi suspects that his brother’s d3ath was linked to his political
ambition.
“They know he had an upper hand and many followers,” he added.
He explained that an attack had been made on his brother in 2021 which
he survived.
“An attack had been made in 2021 and some of the culprits are still in
prison but judgment has not been made yet.”
In an interview with the publication in 2021, the deceased narrated his
traumatic encounter with alleged political assassins, who killed one of his
staff members.
He said the incident happened on April 16, 2021.
“The day the incident occurred was Friday, April 16, 2021. But the
Sunday (April 11) before that day, somebody called me (on the phone) to say
they were coming to destroy the APC leadership meeting which usually held in my
house. I said, ‘From who?’ The person told me it was from ‘the top,’ sponsored
by a leader in the LGA and I said, ‘No problem. If that is the case, I have to
hire some military men and other security officers to secure the entrance of my
house," the deceased narrated.
“On that day, when they (the assailants) couldn’t gain access to my
compound, they went ahead to destroy all the (campaign) banners I had put up in
the community. They went to the party secretariat in Ijede LCDA and maliciously
destroyed the big box banner that I had erected in that place.
“They k!lled one of my staff members, Mr Ifeanyi Godfrey, who was also
an executive member on my campaign committee. They butchered him, shot him in
the head and threw his body into an empty coffin, where he worked in a funeral
home.
“I was at the back (of the building). A well-known gang member shot at
me but I dodged and hid myself. They were shouting, ‘This man is escaping
again; we are going to find him and k!ll him.’ It was so barbaric; it was
something I could never have imagined,” the deceased had said
“My brother, Oluwafemi, who was in the second office, resisted their
attempts to get in, and they left. Once they left, I came out to examine the
damage. I started calling the police, but no policeman showed up, even though
they were not far from my location.
“Then, the thugs came back, and immediately they saw me, they said, ‘So,
he was inside.’ They then forced their way in. In the process, they began to
hack my brother with a machete. They even wanted to cut his hand
off."
When contacted on Monday, his friend, who asked not to be named for the
sensitivity of the situation, said the assailants who had been trying to kill
his friend eventually succeeded.
“They have finally taken him out,” he simply said, calling on
authorities to ensure justice.
He said Onamade was a strong contender in the chairmanship race in the
council.
“He was a strong contender. Situations like that have been rampant in
Ijede and call for serious attention from authorities.
Spokesperson of the State Police Command, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, said
the command was aware of the incident and investigation was ongoing.
“Investigation has commenced into the incident,” Hundeyin said.
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