CACOL Condemns Attack On Suraj, HEDA’s Chair’s Home  

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has condemned in strong terms the attack by some assailants of the Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) , Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju and his wife at their Lagos home.

In a release issued by CACOL and signed by Tola Oresanwo, the anti-corruption organization’s Director, Administration and Programmes on behalf of its Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, he stated, “We received the sad news of the attack of the Chairman of HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju and his wife by gunmen numbering five with great shock. The fact that the gunmen at about 2:15am on Monday invaded only Suraju’s residence out of other 220 buildings in the estate is suspicious and a pointer to the fact that they may not be ordinary armed robber but may have been sent to carry out the dastardly act by some group of people who are enemies of truth”.

“We learnt that 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”.

“This underscores the height that insecurity has reached in the country especially when this can happen in an estate with adequate security apparatus. We therefore condemn this attack in its entirety; we consider it as an attack on the truth, a major blow on whistleblowing endeavours in Nigeria and an irreparable loss to the anti-corruption activism in the country which is capable of reducing the rating of Nigeria’s seriousness in terms of anti-corruption within the comity of nations”.

The Chairman further remarked, “We are still amazed at the manner of desperation that could warrant this kind of attack on the personality of someone who has been on the forefront of anticorruption and whistle blowing in the country. It only goes to show how shameless and conscienceless many have fallen in their nefarious acts. We believe the Police will rise to the occasion by investigating this case and bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to book and hope such elements would desist from their evil ways before they inevitably meet with their nemesis.”