The new Counsel to the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Ogun State, who is currently representing the party in its petition against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Dapo Abiodun, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in court over the omission of the party’s name on the ballot papers used in the last governorship election, Barrister I.D Izunya, raised an alarm on Thursday, stating that his life and that of his immediate family are in danger.
He sent a “Save my Soul” message to the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, and the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, expressing his concern that being a counsel to a political party should not endanger his and his family’s lives, as he is only performing a professional job he has been trained to do for a living.
In a statement he issued to journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital, Izunya alleged that his wife was attacked and almost killed on Tuesday, June 13. He believed the attack was politically motivated and might be a result of his role as a counsel to the NNPP in Ogun State.
“I wish to use this medium to inform the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, the Governor of Ogun State, the Inspector General of Police, and other security agencies that my life and that of my family is in danger, and they should deploy all legal arsenals to protect me and my family,” Barrister Izunya said in the statement.
He described the incident, stating, “On the 13th day of June 2023, at about 3 pm, my wife was attacked and about to be strangled by an unknown man. The unknown man, tall and dark in complexion, knocked at my door several times.
Knowing that I was not around, he told my wife through the window, when she did not open the door, that I sent money to her. My wife replied that I didn’t inform her that I was sending someone with money. When my wife refused to open the door for him, the man left, not realizing he was still around the gate.”
He continued, “The man rushed in 10 minutes later when he noticed that a neighbour who had come to visit my wife had left. Immediately he gained access to my room, he pushed my wife, and she fell on the centre table and then to the floor in the presence of my two children, who were crying. The man held her neck and almost took her life, but she was miraculously saved by God.”
Barrister Izunya emphasized that before the attack on his wife, different individuals had been asking for his identity in the area, and he personally noticed people peeping around his gate.
He explained his involvement in the NNPP case, saying, “When the former Chairman of the party, Mr Sunday Olaposi Oginni, through his counsel Peter Ogar, withdrew the petition from the tribunal and upon the instruction of the national body of the party, I filed an appeal challenging the withdrawal and the fact that the tribunal didn’t permit us to represent and be the counsel for NNPP. Upon our engagement by the National Legal Adviser of the party, we filed a Notice of Change of Counsel.”
“The attack is coming a few days after we filed our appellant’s brief at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan. The fact I want those behind the attack to know is that I am doing my job, and the attack is just to disturb my own peace as a lawyer but does not stop the party from pursuing the case.”
He concluded the statement by once again requesting the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, the Governor of Ogun State, the Inspector General of Police, and other security agencies to protect him and his family, as their lives are in danger.
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