Nigeria’s most respected oil and gas journalist, Mr Toyin Akinosho has fled the country after the March 20th assassination attempt on his life.
Akinosho who started the magazine after working for several years in Chevron with the aim of enabling the general public and industry watchers get a clearer view and understanding of the practice in the oil and gas industry fled following threats to his life, supposedly on account of scathing revelations about the corruption in the industry published by his magazine.
Akinosho’s driver was accosted on March 20th by unknown gunmen but denied knowing his boss. Though Mr Akinosho’s whereabouts is unknown, below is what his driver told newsmen about his near death experience on March 20th.
“As I came out from our street to enter the main road, I saw a white Hilux (mini truck) following me,” Yinusa, Mr. Akinosho’s driver, said. “I wanted to branch into another road but because they were still following me, I decided to go straight. But they still followed me. At 41 Road, there is a junction that you can branch from, to Ikoyi or to the (exit) gate.
“It was at that spot that they blocked me with their car and stopped me. They came down and were asking me ‘Where is Toyin Akinosho?’ and I told them that I don’t know who Toyin Akinosho is; that I have never heard that name in my life before. I also told them that (the) publisher’s car is my personal car and that the name Toyin Akinosho does not ring a bell. It was at that point that they returned into their vehicle and drove off.”
He continued, “They entered their car and I kept moving because I thought it would be unwise for me to go back home right away. As they moved, they were moving slowly and then later turned to the roundabout that leads to Ikoyi; but I went straight to gate. But as I looked into my side mirror, I saw that they were still following me and I thought to myself that if I went home, they might still trace me to the house to know where we were staying. So, I went straight and bent towards Four Points (By Sheraton Lagos hotel) area. The car has an e-tag (pre-paid toll identification) so I just passed the toll gate but it was like they paid and were delayed a bit. But the traffic light stopped me; it wasn’t up to one minute that I was at the traffic light that I saw that they were coming but then, the light passed me so I drove off. I passed in front of Four Points and followed Ajose Adeogun Street. On that street, there is a club that Oga goes to. It was there that they caught up with me and rammed my car by the side and I ran into a culvert and the bumper was damaged.”
What happened next?
“Then, one of them came out of the car and slapped me on my face and said, ‘We are asking you for the last time, where is Toyin Akinosho?’ I told him that I don’t know the person who bears that name. On hearing that, another one said to me: ‘I can waste you o’ but I told him that if he wanted to kill me, he should do so, but I insisted I neither knew Akinosho nor ever heard of his name. Then they left me there and entered their vehicle and left. People that were around there started coming out to assist me drag the car off the culvert.”
Mr. Yinusa, who decided to sleep in the car, apparently to prevent being traced to his boss’ house, after he had encountered the suspected assassins for the second time on Ajose Adeogun Street, added:
“As I was sleeping in the car, around 2am, they came to meet me and used the edge (barrel) of a gun to wake me up. They then collected my phone and the N7,000 that I had on me and left saying that since I did not want to say the truth, they would go with those.”
The driver added, “It was like they went to check the (Contacts on my phone) whether they would see Oga’s name on my phone but I saved Oga’s number with the name ‘MAE’”
Asked what ‘MAE’ means, Yinusa said “Nothing,” adding, “I just saved it as such because to spell his name, Toyin Akinosho Alfred, is difficult for me.”
The suspected assassins returned around 5a.m. to return Mumuni’s phone.
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