Man escapes assassination in Ogun, goes into hiding

Tension has enveloped the peaceful community of Ajare in Abeokuta suburbs in Ogun State as some dare devil gun wielding men attacked a house in the community in what many see as an assassination attempt cutting neck of a young man simply identified as Stephen Bidemi.

The armed men were said to have arrived the area in an unmarked Hilux van on March 27, 2025 around 2. Am and in a gestapo manner forced their way into the compound as they made their search for Patrick Sanjo Fadipe the Deputy Youth leader of the All Progressives Congress APC, in Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State, but cut his cousin Stephen’s neck instead in a mistaken identity.

The arm men reportedly spared their victim, Stephen after establishing he wasn’t their target and left hurriedly, bemoaning their missed chance. Patrick Sanjo Fadipe and his brother, Festus Fadipe had reportedly gone on a night vigil at a nearby church thus escaping the attack.

The attackers eye witnesses claimed had threatened to return to finish the job, insisting that Patrick won’t go scot free for working against the political interest of their leader’s son.

The attack it was learned was directed at Patrick who had gone to take refuge in his brother, Festus’ apartment in Abeokuta after an attempt on his life in Agege, Lagos State for rejecting a bribe offer to support the political aspirations of the son of current Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Ganuyi Obasa.

This was after an earlier attempt on his life at his business premise in Lagos where he had narrowly escaped the felons who had gone into his shop and shot sporadically, demanding to see him.

Before the Ogun attack, sources close to the victim’s family said, he had earlier that day been seized at a filling station in Ogun by a wrangler who had started calling for help from his fellows before some good Nigerians rescued him from his grips.

The source further claimed that before the new strategy to eliminate the youth leader for daring to refuse to support the speaker’s son, he had been illegally detained by the police on the orders of the Speaker Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa who had reportedly vowed to eliminate every real or imagined obstacles to his son’s local government chairmanship ambition.

This attack they said was just one of several others targeted at political rivals resulting in the people living in perpetual fear and anxiety.

Previous attempts by Patrick Sanjo Fadipe to seek police protection it was learnt, became a pipe dream as the police advised him to go underground because the forces after him were not such they could contain.

It would be recalled that incidents of politically motivated violent attacks like this have become common place in Lagos State and other parts the county leaving the people in dire straits in some cases helpless.