By Ola Ajayi
IBADAN—TWO suspended anti-Akala lawmakers in the Oyo State House of Assembly have escaped death by the whiskers when unknown gunmen allegedly stormed their residence yesterday. But a policeman, Samuel Sule and a night guard, Mutiu Raimi were reportedly felled by the assassins’ bullets.
The two men  are the former deputy Speaker in the legislative arm, Mr. Kazeem Ayilara and the Chairman, Oyo State House of Assembly Parliamentary Caucus, Mr. Mohammed Inakoju.

The legislators are among the eight lawmakers suspended by the Mr. Moruf Atilola-led legislative arm for allegedly plotting to remove the Speaker for allegedly being so subservient to the governor.

Lawmaker receiving treatment after bullet wound

Though, Ayilara escaped being killed by the gun-totting hoodlums who swooped on his residence, he received cuts in the head and he is still lying critically ill in an undisclosed hospital.

Vanguard gathered that about 20 suspected hoodlums from one faction of the warring National Union of Road Transport Workers besieged Ayilara’s residence at Apata area of the city and left in their trail blood stains and sorrow.

Also Mr. Micheal Okunlade alleged that the gunmen had earlier visited his residence but he was lucky to have escaped.

While conducting newsmen round the house which was riddled with bullets, Ayilara said: “I heard gunshots around 2.30am and they were asking where is the honourable. Then, I stood up and they started firing at my room. If I had not stood up, the bullets would have hit me on my bed.

By this time he explained, “they had already killed one policeman and one Odua People’s Congress, OPC,  member, and threatened to kill the second policeman if I refused to open the door. So, I did not have any option than to open the door.”

“I opened the door, they came in and hit my head with their gun. One of them told me that somebody had already paid for my life.”

Before they killed the policeman, he said, they first disarmed him and later dragged him into a Toyota Sequoia Jeep marked LAGOS KA 956 AAA and shot him at close range .

The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Adisa Baba Bolanta confirmed the incident, adding that the police had begun manhunt to track down the suspects,   describing the killing of the policeman as wicked, saying “that all efforts are been geared not only to arrest the perpetrators but to recover the items such as the pump action machine gun belonging to Hon. Ayilara and the weapons seized by the attackers.” He said investigations into the attack had begun, noting that no arrest had been made so far.