Gunmen ‘invade’ residence of HEDA chairman

Human and Environmental Developmental Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) says armed men invaded the residence of Olarenwaju Suraju, its chairman, on Monday.

Sulaimon Arigbabu, executive secretary of HEDA, said in a statement on Tuesday that the invaders were armed with guns, knives and “other dangerous weapons”.

They reportedly carted away valuable items belonging to Suraju and his family and also threatened to kill him.

The HEDA chairman and his wife were said to have been hospitalised as a result of the incident.

“The assailants, who invaded only Mr. Suraju’s home in Lagos at around 2:15am on Monday, 28th March 2022, out of other 220 buildings in the estate, collected all valuable items in the house and coerced Mr Suraju to provide all his security details including phone passwords, bank log-in details, laptops passwords, among others,” Arigbabu said.

“The assailants then immediately gained access to his email, phone numbers including WhatsApp and other messaging platforms as well as bank platforms.

“To be sure, at the earlier moment after the invasion, the assailants were found deleting some of the CCTV footage through Mr Suraju’s phone before the camera was switched off by the family.

“However, the matter has been reported at the relevant Divisional Police Station in Lagos State.”

The executive secretary added that the statement was part of efforts to alert “members of the public and all friends, families and well wishers of the Surajus and HEDA not to act on any solicitation or strange broadcast/emails purportedly from Mr and Mrs Suraju”.

“Any such message should be discountenanced for now,” he added.

The statement described the incident as “shocking and traumatising” for the Suraju family and the organisation.

“HEDA expressed worry that the invasion may not be unconnected with the anti-corruption work of HEDA which Mr Suraju has been at the fore-front,” the statement reads.

“It is no news that corrupt elements both within and outside the government have continuously conspired to persecute the organisation and its Chairman, Mr Suraju, for blowing whistles and exposing perpetrators of various acts of grand corruption against Nigeria.

“Therefore, considering that the assailants did not only steal and inflict injury, they also threatened to kill Mr Suraju, this attack may be another dimension to the persecution of Mr Suraju by the corrupt individuals, especially since all previous attempts to bring him down have failed.

“HEDA, therefore, called on well-meaning state and non-state actors to rise up towards ensuring adequate protection for whistle-blowers and activists who have committed themselves to fighting corruption and impunity that are the bane of Nigeria’s development.”