Nigeria Content Online

Four armed men,
suspected to be hired assassins, invaded the Abuja residence of a
senator from Kwara State, Gbemisola Saraki, daughter of Olusola Saraki,
the Second Republic senate leader, in the early hours of yesterday,
after overpowering her security aides.

The men undertook a
meticulous search of the entire building, looking for Ms Saraki, but
had to abandon their mission when they couldn’t locate the senator who
had travelled out of Abuja days earlier, after the Senate announced its
recess.

The men, who made
enough racket to wake up all the senator’s aides and other residents
living in the building, had arrived around 1am yesterday and proceeded
to search the rooms, demanding to see Mrs Saraki.

“They came around
with sophisticated weapons,” a family member said. “Ms. Saraki was
however not at home when the suspected assassins forced their way into
her house. They took her security aides and other members of her family
hostage, demanding her whereabouts.” According to eyewitness account,
the thugs were speaking in Yoruba, Ms Saraki’s language, claiming that
they were sent from Ilorin, her home state, to kill the senator.

Emmanuel Ojukwu,
the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police, said in a telephone
that the police is treating the crime as a “burglary and theft
attempt.” He also said that his men have not discovered any new
information on the incident.

Family sources
however said the armed men ransacked Ms Saraki’s house and locked her
family inside a room after they could not find her.

A member of the
family said the raid lasted for almost one hour and the police only
arrived the scene hours after the men had left.

The senate
leadership condemned the attack and asked the police to commence
immediate investigation. “We received with shock news of the attempt on
the life of Senator Gbemisola Saraki,” Ayogu Eze, the senate
spokesperson said. “We condemn the violation of the sanctity of Ms.
Saraki’s household and the abuse of the constitutional rights of her
relations and domestic staff. We call on the Inspector General of
Police and other security agencies to step into this matter and fish
out the master-minds and the culprits in this heinous act.”

Ms Saraki could not
be reached for her comments hours after the incident. However, on her
Facebook page, she posted the message that, “The protection of Allah
shall be banner over the lives of souls whose paths are always shining
light on others.”

Bad omen for 2011

Ms Saraki, who
switched to the senate in 2003 after she had spent four years as a
member of the House of Representatives, hopes to take over from her
brother, Bukola Saraki, as the governor of Kwara State. The brother,
whose final tenure ends next year, is reportedly not keen on handing
over to his sister.

One of her aides
said the fact that the men claimed to be from Ilorin might mean that
some people were trying to frighten her away from the contest or worse,
to ensure that she was in no position to contest.

Mr Eze said Nigerians should stop employing violence in politics.

“Politics of
violence and brigandage belong to our regrettable past and any attempt
to return us to that inglorious era is unfortunate and completely
unacceptable,” he said.

“Political or other differences should be resolved through dialogue
and consensus building and not by recourse to thuggery and
arm-twisting. Our new politics should not be foreshadowed by threats of
violence and thuggery. This development obviously sends a wrong signal
and we urge the police to deal with this matter comprehensively.”