Posted by From TUNDE RAHEEM, Akure on
Octogenarian acting leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, narrowly escaped death on Tuesday when 10 gunmen, suspected to be robbers, invaded his Ijapo residence in Ondo State and left him with several machete cuts on the head.
•Suffers machete cuts
Octogenarian acting leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, narrowly escaped death on Tuesday when 10 gunmen, suspected to be robbers, invaded his Ijapo residence in Ondo State and left him with several machete cuts on the head.
The gunmen, who arrived Chief Fasoranti's house at about 9.30p.m., were said to have gained entrance through the fence and tied the two security guards on duty with telephone cables.
It was gathered that the entire household was thoroughly ransacked by the assailants before they began to torture the politician and his family and later asked the family members to bring out their valuables.
Chief Fasoranti, who narrated his ordeal to newsmen after he was discharged from hospital on Wednesday morning, said he was watching NTA network news when the unidentified gunmen, who also had cutlasses and axes, stormed his living room and demanded for a ransom if he wanted his life to be spared.
'A lot of blood was shed and they hurriedly went away. I think they suspected that the police would be on their trail. They had already stormed my daughter's apartment, the one in front, and then she used an alarm to alert people in the house."
He said his failure to meet the demands of the gunmen angered them and they hit him with a strange object on his head.
According to him, the hoodlums hurriedly left when they heard a security alarm from one of the apartments in his compound apparently thinking it was the police that came to his rescue.
The politician added that though he could not understand the motive of the hoodlums, he suspected they might be armed robbers.
Chief Fasoranti said: 'They suspected that the alarm was from the mobile police, so they hurriedly left my room because before they came into my room they had already damaged three doors forcibly.
'The police came and promised to investigate, but l do not see how they would do. What I am saying is that police surveillance is not effective. There should be patrols. Something similar to this happened about four years ago. That time, they seized my double barrel gun and we reported to the police and they said that they would investigate and nothing happened.
'They got hold of my two security men, beat them flat and tied them to the post before they could gain entrance into the house. Those people are still lying critically ill at the hospital now; so, we are helpless. There is lawlessness in the land; there is nothing we can do."
Chief Fasoranti, however, said he had gone for treatment at the hospital, where an x-ray of the affected parts of his body was done.
Meanwhile, the police in the state have deployed men to the residence of the politician. The police spokesman, Adeniran Aremu, while confirming the attack, said police authorities had commenced investigations into the matter.