By Deji Adeyanju
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE:
One Segun Dada, Aide to President Buhari has Threatened to Kill Me
Dear Inspector General of Police,
Sir,
I write you this letter out of urgency and a genuine desire to prevent any tragedy from befalling me. I am the Director New media of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition political party. As a politician and an influential voice in our great country, I have come under several online attacks by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who support President Muhammadu Buhari. They see my criticism of the president as a sacrilege and an affront on their decision to support Buhari.
I have repeatedly said that I am entitled to my opinions at all times and owe nobody any apology for my opinions but they daily attack my views and opinions and go the extra mile to always defame and malign my name; calling me all sorts of despicable names. This has resulted into a civil case of defamation instituted by me against one Japheth Omojuwa at Hight Court of the Federal capital Territory. This same Japheth who works in tandem with Segun Dada has continued to malign me. I have always ignored them because I felt they were been childish and taking politics too far until the events of yesterday, the 26th of February, 2016.
I had posted a comment on social media about the embattled former minister of Interior, Abba Moro, only for one Segun Dada who claims to be working in Aso Rock to come and start attacking me calling me all sorts of names like: murderer, cultist, etc. They have continued to defame and malign me for the past 1 and half years ever since the said Japheth made unfounded allegations against me of being a member of the Goodluck Jonathan Killer Squad, a murderer who escaped justice, a former cultist, etc. Out of maturity, I have restrained myself from responding to them since I had already sued the originator of the story, but Segun Dada will just not stop. He went on and on about the matter and said he will say all these allegations to my face.
So we agreed to meet yesterday, Friday the 26th to clear issues. I went to the venue of the meeting at Sofa Lounge only to find him drunk and immediately he saw me, he flared up after I subtly told him we should talk. He pushed me away and broke a Vodka bottle to stab me, an attempt which I succeeded in dodging.
People sitting in the club gathered round and tried to collect the bottle from him but he resisted and broke about 2 other bottles and 3 glass cups in the Lounge. It took the club bouncers to restrain him and the bouncers practically carried him out of the club. He was so drunk to the extent that he removed his shirt and trouzers. When I went outside the club, he kept shouting: “Deji, I will kill you. That is a promise.” I have about 4 witnesses who heard him saying he would kill me.
I have decided to make this report to prevent him from taking my life as I have become afraid and knowing full well that he might not be acting alone, they might decide to carry out this threat. When I consider what happened three weeks ago when his accomplice, Japheth Omojuwa invaded our privacy by posting online chats from one of our PDP WhatsApp Group that are confidential and distributed same and our phone numbers to their APC thugs who kept calling me and other members of my Directotrate to threaten them. These are some of the numbers that were threatening us:
[phone numbers retracted by editor]
I am convinced in my mind that Segun Dada is capable of carrying out his death threats with the help of none state actors, some of who have already been calling us threatening us because we are criticizing president Buhari who they see as a god that cannot be criticized.
In conclusion, I wish to appeal to you to look into this matter urgently with the view of properly investigating it and offering me adequate protection from those who threaten my life. I have already reported the incident of yesterday to the police close to my house who have assured me they will act on it speedily but I still wish to put you on notice sir.
I am most obliged.
Deji Adeyanju
Director, New Media
People’s Democratic party
