Three days after the death of a man suspected to be a homosexual rapist, Alhaji Tunji Alaso, and a 48-year-old man, Ganiyu Adebayo, in Temidire, Alagbado area of Lagos during a riot, some landlords and chiefs of the community have abandoned their houses in fear as it became clear that there were fears that Alaso’s friends might launch a reprisal.
During the Monday riot, a few residents sustained injuries while an unconfirmed report said that another young man died from gunshot injuries, apart from Alaso and Adebayo.
Alhaji Najimu Abioye, the Baale of the Community explained that some of his chiefs, had been incommunicado, having fled their homes since the riot.
The phone numbers of the chiefs were also switched off when attempts were made to speak with them.
Such was the extent of the palpable fear that has enveloped the area.
Alhaji Abioye said, “Just today, we got a report that the late man’s boys (Alaso’s people) are compiling a list of people who would be dealt with as a result of his death.
He explained that Adebayo’s death was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He was a young man who used to live here. He visited me once in a while. When he came here on Monday, he was informed that I was at the area of the protest. He only came there to see me, when he was shot. He died while we were taking him to the hospital,” the Baale said.
A resident on Bakare Street, where two youths reportedly sustained injury on Monday, told our correspondent, pleading anonymity, that his landlord had not come home since that day.
Twenty-three-year-old Suleiman Bello, was one of the youths who sustained gunshot injuries during the protest. He was shot in the calf.
His father, 62-year-old Lasisi Bello, said that despite his son’s injury, he is languishing in the custody of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Ogun State Police Command.
“I did not even know he was shot until late in the night on the day of the riot, when one of his friends came home to tell his younger brother. I was later told he had been rushed to a private hospital. When we got there, he was rejected by the officials there who advised that we take him to a government hospital.
“Someone advised us that we could take him to a local doctor to have the bullet removed. But while on the way, SARS operatives stopped the motorcycle we were using to transport him for not having particulars. It was in the process of asking questions that they learnt he sustained gunshot injuries. They took him into custody when they demanded a police report and we did not have it.”
Like other landlords, Bello also explained that he had not slept at home since the day of the riot because of fear of reprisals.
An eyewitness, who like many others, pleaded anonymity out of fear, said that the protest was over before the riot began.
He said, “We all carried placards to protest how our lands were being snatched by Alhaji Tunji (Alaso), with the use of thugs. We even invited the police. After the police left and we were about to disperse, the man (Alaso), came there and drove into the crowd, hitting many people in the process.
“People were already angry as a result of his wickedness and they started to throw stones at his vehicle. The police came back and started shooting. When the first man (Adebayo) was shot, the riot escalated.” We don’t know how he (Alaso) was shot later.
However, there are fears by those who had been threatened by Alaso to vacate their lands that his family might want to bury him on their property.
One of such landlords, Mr. Clement Nwachukwu, said he got a call few weeks ago while he was away at home, that Alaso was on his land.
“When I got home the following day and went there with a copy of my documents, his boys snatched the documents from me. He had already carved out a part of my land. Why would anybody bury him on my land, which I bought as far back as 1984?” he said.
A few of the youths of the community also offered an insight into the alleged activities of Alaso. They said he was a menace to Yahoo Yahoo boys’, whom he allegedly extorted regularly.
One of them said, “Alaso has some informants working for him here. When anyone of the ‘Yahoo Yahoo boys’ (internet fraudsters) operating in this area had made a hit, his boys informed him. He would then threaten them to give up a percentage or he would inform the police and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission. He was always using EFCC to harass people.
“These boys hate him so much because he sometimes collected up to 50 per cent of what they made.”
A commentator on the Nigerian online forum, Nairaland, also shared a narration of an alleged encounter with Alaso in 2007 in Ibadan.
According to him, he was nearly tricked into having homosexual relations with the late Alaso at the time.
The commentator, who uses the name Vicadex07, said, “He introduced himself as TunjiAlaso, a film producer and that he likes hanging out with young boys to encourage them and help them.
“As we headed towards his car, Mr. Tunji (Alaso) told me he would be spending the night in my place since my peeps (sic) were not around so as to save hotel bills.
“Fortunately for me when we got to Bere (in Ibadan), he left me in the vehicle and he went inside the compound of a building beside the main road that looked like a babalawo house and I found the perfect chance for my escape.”
The commentator said it was when he shared the story of his encounter and description of Alaso with his friends,that he was told the man he met was known as Alhaji Gay, known for his homosexual escapades.
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, said investigation was still ongoing on the case.
On allegations that Alaso was an informant for the EFCC, spokesperson for the commission, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said this could not be true because “we don’t use.
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