Since the above story began to trend, I have watched and listened to the contributions and opinions of people and I have decided to come out with my own angle of the story as the sufferer of the attack. When the press gives a story, the professional words often used are; allegedly, believed, perceived etc. This version I now present is the detailed and complete version about what transpired between me and the Palace thugs both in 2019 and 2024.

I have lived in the city of Akure for over 24 years now. I have seen Kings enthroned, I have seen King deposed, I have seen a regent appointed and I have also seen the tenure of the regent expire. But what I have never seen is the level of Palace brutality and lawlessness at the Palace in the past 7 years.

My ordeal with the Palace thugs started in 2019 when I went to fix my vehicles key close to the Palace in the year above mentioned. I went to cut the key in company of a friend and we went on a bike. Having lived in the city for this long I am aware that the road that leads to the Dejis Palace is always closed whenever the Kabiyesi is about to go out. That was the situation when we arrived where we were to cut the key. While we awaited our key being cut, my friend jokingly said anyone coming from Oba Adesida Road would not know what would be happening until he/she arrives the Palace. This remark was not said aloud but was just a mere talk between two of us. We were however oblivious of the presence of one of the Palace thugs who picked on us and asked do you want to prevent the Kabiyesi from going out? I explained to him that we were not talking about the King we were merely discussing on our own but this simple entreaty could not pacify him so he quickly beckoned on their head. Immediately, the head of the thugs popularly known as Tuyi came forward and asked what happened. I tried to explain to him but he chose to believe what his cohort told him and he immediately slapped me and his cohorts joined him. They attempted to drag me to a room inside the palace but I managed to escape from their grip. I went to the Police station and reported the matter and it was eventually charged to the court. The matter was eventually struck out (not dismissed as reported by some sections of the media) for want of diligent prosecution.

FAST FORWARD TO DECEMBER 2024
On the 12th day of December 2024 I was driving on my bike along Oba Adesida Road when I was knocked down on my bike from behind by one Oluwole Oluwalana Samuel. Mr. Oluwole was with his wife in a Venza car when this happened. Passersby assisted me to pick my items and others quickly got a seat for me to calm me down. Surprisingly, when Oluwole and his wife came down from the car the first thing Oluwole did was to insult me. I retorted and he immediately put a call across to somebody and in minutes the thugs arrived in their numbers led by the same Tuyi who led his thugs to attack me in 2019. He immediately exclaimed you again? Are you the only one in Akure and immediately after this, they all descended on me and beat me to stupor. Certainly the beating of 2024 surpasses that of 2019. Tuyi also ordered that my bike be taken to the Palace and his cohorts obliged him. I reported at A Division Police station, went to the hospital and returned to make my statement.

AT A DIVISION POLICE STATION
Oluwole was a bit scared when he arrived but Tuyi chastened him telling him to brave up and not to be scared of whatever would happen. At the long last the DCO ordered that the sum of 50.000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira be transferred to me after I explained that I spent 46,000.00 (Forty-six thousand naira at the hospital. After the money was transferred, I asked for my bike that was confiscated and taken to the Palace and I was informed that it had been brought to the Police station. When I was shown my motorbike I was surprised to notice that the bike had been completely cannibalized. I went back to the DCO and reported the issue and he ordered Tuyi to get back the number plate and other things that might have been removed from the bike. Expectedly, that was the end. Before I went to inspect the bike, the DCO had enjoined us to forget about what had happened and embrace each other. I was reluctant to do this because a year after the 2019 matter was struck out of court I met Tuyi at a gas station along Oke Ijebu and tried to greet him but he flared up and started narrating what happened in 2019 to people around. As a garrulous fellow that he is, he said it was the intervention of the Kabiyesi who used Justice so, so and so that I would have succeeded in sending him to prison. He practically mentioned the names of three Justices who helped the Kabiyesi to kill the matter in 2019. But as a lawyer, I will not mention the names here. I was therefore not surprised when the matter was struck out even when I was not absent from court for more than once or twice consecutively. He later told me he would still deal with me in the future.

NBA’S INVOLVEMENT
As I began to recuperate, I took stock of the attack and discovered that I had lost over 300,000.00 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira to the attack excluding the medical bills. I became unhappy particularly because my laptop which is my instrument of office had been affected when I was knocked off the bike. The mother board, hard drive and screen had been affected. With this frustration I went to the NBA chairman, Friday Umar Esq to officially report the matter. The chairmen asked me to put the complaint in bullet points and submit same to his office which I did. A letter was written by the chairman to the Palace and I was asked to go and deliver it. I sent the Litigation clerk in our office to deliver same to the Palace but it was rejected as the Palace said they do not receive letters on Mondays and same was returned. I decided to send the letter by courier. The letter was received by the Chief of Staff to the Deji, he opened, read and returned it to sender (BTS). Alarmed by this disrespect for the NBA, the Chairman saddled me with the responsibility of looking for the Dejis phone number so he could have a personal talk with him. I was thinking the Chairman would be in a better position to get such number easily, this notwithstanding, I struggled to look for the number I even posted it on the NBA platform but I did not succeed in getting it. I recall when a senior colleague called me to know why I was asking for the Dejis number and I explained. Instead of giving the number to me, he promised to contact the NBA Chairman and others involved in the matter and get back to me. Uptill date I did not hear from the said senior colleague. Surprisingly he was one of those who began whining when the press war began. Not pleased with the way the NBA was handling the matter, I went to the immediate past Chairman Banjo Ayenakin Esq and narrated my ordeal to him. Ayenakin immediately put a call across to the incumbent Chairman and I was assured that the matter would be revisited. After about five days without hearing from the incumbent and tired of the promises, again I went to Ayenakin and this time around he contacted the Palace directly and informed the incumbent chairman about this. On the fateful day for the visit to the palace, I was not ready because I was in a friends office using his laptop to write a letter. It was in the midst of the letter I was writing that the incumbent chairman called me for the Palace visit. I quickly completed the letter and rushed to meet the Chairman at NEPA roundabout towards Arakale and off we went to the Palace.

AT THE DEJI’S PALACE
We met the Kabiyesi at the foyer of the Palace casually sited. I had never met him neither had the Chairman. We made our deep obeisances and we were made to remain on our feet throughout the almost one-hour meeting. The chairman made the introduction and I was the first to tell my story, then Tuyi told his. I was appalled by the conduct of the people around because they hardly allowed the Kabiyesi to talk. Tuyi or the Chief of Staff would interject at intervals thereby creating a riotous and rowdy environment. As a matter of fact, at a point I refused to talk again and handed over everything to the Chairman. Having been convinced by the lies told by Tuyi, the Kabiyesi warned me and said if I continue to be a trouble maker I would only end up as a charge and bail lawyer. The Kabiyesi practically called me a charge and bail lawyer. He went further to say if I was convinced that the boys damaged my bike I should cost it and let him know. He concluded by saying if however, I am not satisfied with what he has said, I should just know that the Commissioner of Police and the AIG are both close friends of Tuyi so there is no where I could take him. As I said earlier on, I had chosen to remain silent because if I did otherwise I would be rude to the Kabiyesi. When Tuyi noticed that he had successfully swayed the Kabiyesi in his favor, he concluded by saying the matter had been settled before now and in swift concurrence the chairman said oh I didn’t know it had been settled. The chairman went further to say he never knew Tuyi was an educated fellow, that he was expecting to meet somebody who could not express himself. At that point a few questions ran through my mind. How helpful would this assertion from the chairman be to the purpose of our visit? who should the chairman believe at that point? Why would I bring the chairman all the way from his office for a matter that had been settled? Finally, who decides if a matter is going to be/had been settled, the complainant or the suspect? While wondering on the ignominy I had just been subjected to, my limbs weakened, my fingers shook and my phone fell off my hand and the screen crashed immediately. As we walked out of the Palace I wished something could make me disappear from the scene but it could not happen. I walked timidly to the chairman’s car, while Tuyi cornered the chairman to drum more lies into his ears for another thirty minutes while I waited beside the chairman’s car.

THE POLICE STAND
The Deji assured me at the Palace that Tuyi is a friend of the AIG and the CP in Ondo State. This assurance was what made me to delay my petition until another AIG was brought to the state. The day the new AIG AJANI MUSIBAU OMOLABI resumed was the day I submitted the petition. My interaction with the new AIG so far reveals that he is a sane, peace loving fatherly officer. The Police are statutorily empowered to investigate such matters, but the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) also makes provision for alternative means of prosecuting the matter. According to the Police, they have invited both Tuyi and Wole but they have refused to honor the invitation till date. They are busy junketing the places of politicians who use them as thugs during elections attempting to kill the matter as they did in 2019. The PPRO to the AIG called me to assure me that Tuyi would be available on Monday the 2nd day of June 2025. I still trust the AIG nay the Police will do what the law says regarding matters like this.

PUTTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
This should clear the rumor making the rounds that the, matter had been settled. The said fifty thousand naira forwarded to me besides been an admission of committing the crime, it was for the medical bills which was not even enough to cover it. During my last visit to the hospital it was discovered that my lower canine had been badly affected and it was removed. At my age how does that tooth regrow? It was also after the transfer of the said money that I noticed the extent of the damage done to my bike and all that I lost to the attack. The most salient question to ask is if I had died during the attack would these lies not have exonerated the culprits with the NBA believing their story? Thank God there would not be need to organize a candle afternoon/night for me but all I need is the support to fight this injustice. I have sacrificed for the NBA through the payment of my Bar Practicing fees both local and National. Due to my media background I anchored the inauguration of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Ondo State. I was also the person who anchored the program for Afam Osigwe during his campaign tour to Akure. I have also hyped activities of the NBA on my radio programs without being instructed. All these i did pro bono

It is quite unfortunate that human lives are so blatantly disrespected and disregarded whether Lawyers are involved or not. The worst and worrisome part these days is that Lawyers are not spirited to defend their own or do so speedily or sacrificially. But this campaign for a change must continue. Many thanks to all law bloggers who chose to speak up against injustice, also to Sahara Reporters I say thank you.

Feel free to join us on Independent Radio 89.7 fm if you are within Abuja. You can also listen to it from anywhere across the globe on Radio Garden using the app or the web browser. The above story is part of what would be discussed on Wednesday 28th & Thursday 29th May 2025 between 8:30pm and 9pm.

Join us

SUNDAY MICHAEL ESQ
NBA Akure Branch