TheCable

Bayo Onanuga, media director of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, says a vehicle on the convoy of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), nearly “killed” him in Abuja.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Onanuga said the incident happened at about 9pm after he left the residence of Tokunbo Afikuyomi, a former senator representing Lagos west.

The former managing director of NAN said an SUV in the convoy hit his vehicle on the front passenger side and sped away immediately.

“I was driving on the first lane of Shehu Shagari Way when I noticed a convoy emerging from one of the feeder roads. I counted in the centre lane, four vehicles ahead of me,” he wrote.

“I slowed down in my own lane to give a wide berth to the convoy. My slowing down turned a mistake as a Toyota SUV emerged from the same road where the convoy had earlier emerged.

“It headed straight to my car. I was petrified as the driver rammed into my Toyota Camry, by the passenger side. The force of the collision immediately severed the side mirror from the body, severely dented and scratched the two doors on its path.

“I watched in horror as the driver of the SUV reversed the car and joined the cavalcade, leaving me behind to my fate.

“He didn’t bother to stop to check the damage his vehicle had done to my own car, whether he had left me or anyone inside it traumatized by his recklessness. He just drove away.”

Onanuga said he followed the vehicle and arrived at a compound that had the campaign posters of the PDP candidate, adding that people around confirmed that the property is owned by the former vice-president.

“I had no idea as the mystery big man had been shepherded into the house, well ahead of me by the security aides, who now accosted me as I wanted to enter the house,” he said.

“One of the aides blustered as some policemen blocked my path, as well. Another aide asked me to show him the damage to the car. He introduced himself as the chief of staff and gave an undertaking to repair the car. He tendered an apology as well.

“His approach mollified me. I gave him my complimentary card and we exchanged phone numbers. Moments after, I entered my car to continue my interrupted journey home. Because I had not cracked the mystery big man, I stopped outside to ask a guard about the owner of the house, where I just emerged.

“‘It’s Atiku’, he said. Another neighbor also confirmed this.”

The media office of Abubakar is yet comment on the incident.