Man raises alarm over four assassination attempts

A 38-year-old man, Pius Clarke, has raised an alarm over what he claimed to be repeated assassination attempts on his life, and has appealed to security operatives for protection.

Clarke, who spoke with our correspondent yesterday in Lagos, said that in the last one year, there had been four assassination attempts on his life in Ogun, Delta and Lagos states at different times. He added that though he had laid a report to the police, the threats to his life had continued unabated.

In his narration, Clarke alleged that he had been having a running disagreement with his siblings on the mode of sharing properties their father left behind, adding that such disagreements had even resorted in a physical fight.

“I hail from a polygamous family of 14 children from dad’s four wives and I’m the only child of my mum. Both my parents are late now but my dad died leaving some estates behind. My half siblings and I have been having disagreements over the sharing of these properties because they have teamed up against me and refused to give me my share. As a result, we’ve had even physical fights on one occasion and that led to my elder brother, Oritz Clarke, threatening to kill me.

“Since then, some people have been trailing me. Not quite long after the fight, I was attacked in my house on December 27, 2017 but I managed to escape that night through the back door. I ran away with my wife. I made a report to the police and went back home. After that, I have been attacked three other times in Delta, Ogun and Lagos states by different gangs. In fact, in January 2018, I was attacked in Delta State. After I survived that, I fled my residential area in Lagos to Shagamu, Ogun State.

“Similarly, my hotel room in Sagamu was invaded on June 12, 2018. I was lucky not to be in the room at the time. It was one of the girls working in the hotel who saw the assailants when they broke in and ransacked everywhere that told me.

“Oritz has threatened me that anywhere I am in Nigeria, he will haunt me and that I am not safe. He threatened me with his membership of the Ayè confraternity.”

Efforts to reach Oritz Clarke yesterday proved abortive as calls placed to his MTN line were not connecting, while he was yet to respond, at the time of filing this report, to a text message sent to the line.