The Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju and his wife have been hospitalised after gunmen numbering five attacked them on Monday at their Lagos home.
Executive Secretary, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), Mr. Sulaimon Arigbabu, on Tuesday disclosed that Chairman of HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju and his wife have been hospitalised after they attacked them.
He added that the suspects also carted away valuables at their Lagos home.
Arigbabu in a statement on Tuesday said the gunmen at about 2:15am on Monday invaded only Suraju’s residence out of other 220 buildings in the estate.
According to him, the heavily armed men threatened to kill Suraju and thereafter physically hit him and his wife, which led them to be hospitalised.
Arigbabu said, “Armed men numbering 5 invaded the home of Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, Chairman of HEDA Resource Centre and carted away 5 phones including 1 Samsung phone, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads; 2 Macbook pro laptops, a Dell laptop, a Toyota Corolla 2014 car, jewelries, ATM cards, cars keys, bank tokens, office documents among other valuables belonging to Mr. Suraju and his Family.
“The assailants who were heavily armed with guns, knives, and other dangerous weapons also threatened to kill Mr. Suraju, physically hit him and his wife both of whom had to be hospitalised.
“The assailants who were caught on CCTV camera invaded Mr. Suraju’s home in Lagos at around 2:15 am on Monday, 28th March 2022, breached the Estate’s Security and burgled the security features in his house with sophisticated tools. Currently, both the intent and the extent of the damage cannot be fully estimated yet.
He added, “The assailants, who invaded only Mr. Suraju’s home 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. 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.”
He added.”It is important 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.”
Arigbabu said the attack was both shocking and traumatizing for the Suraju’s family and the organisation. He expressed the worry that the invasion may not be unconnected with the anti-corruption work of HEDA which Mr. Suraju has been at the forefront.
He said, “It is no news that corrupt elements both within and outside the government have continuously conspired to persecute the organization 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, but this attack may also be another dimension to the persecution of Mr. Suraju by the corrupt individuals especially since all previous attempts to bring him down have failed.”
Arigbabu said HEDA remains undeterred in its campaign against corruption and promotion of good governance, sustainable development, and protection of human rights even as it goes through this trying period with Mr. Suraju and his family.
He urged well-meaning state and non-state actors to rise up towards ensuring adequate protection for whistle-blowers and activists who have committed themselves to fight corruption and impunity that are the bane of Nigeria‘s development.
