Amode denies kidnap attempt on mother

Cautions against sensational journalism

The Lagos State Governor on Saturday denied
media reports claiming that a kidnap attempt
was made on his mother, Mrs Christianah
Ambode at her residence in Gbagada area of the
State on Friday evening.

The governor, in a statement issued by his Chief
Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, denied the
media report, saying that it was not a true
reflection of what transpired at the residence of
his mother.

An online newspaper had claimed that heavily
armed gunmen invaded the Governor's mother's
residence and disarmed the octogenarian’s police
detail in an apparent attempt to abduct her.

The newspaper had further reported that the
unfortunate development took place at
about 7:30pm, while a back-up team arrived at
the scene at about8:10pm.

Responding, Aruna said: "Whilst it is true that a
commotion occurred at the residence of the
Governor's mother on the fateful day, it was
however far from the truth that it was a kidnap
attempt.

"What really transpired was that a man parked
his vehicle in front of the residence of the
Governor's mother and the security detail
attached to the building asked him not to park
there so as not to block the entrance.

"The man who claimed to be a military
personnel was not in uniform as at the time of
the unfortunate incident but he insisted on
parking in front of the building on the ground
that he was a military personnel.

"He then went on to invite military personnel
attached to Operation MESA to beat Mrs.
Ambode’s police details after he was advised not
to park his vehicle outside the building.

"The unfortunate part was that the newspaper
rightly reported this aspect of the development
in the body of the story but still claimed in the
lead paragraph that it was an apparent kidnap
attempt.

"While we would like to put on record that the
disturbance was not a kidnap attempt on the
Governor's mother as nothing untoward
happened to her, we also like to caution against
needless sensational journalism which could
cause unnecessary panic.

"At the moment, officials of the State
Government are taking appropriate steps to
sanction the unruly military personnel who
joined their colleague to disturb public peace," Aruna stated.