Trouble has hit Nigeria’s first family as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s wife, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, and “First Son” Seyi Tinubu are being fingered in two separate scandals.
The First Lady’s convoy reportedly killed a nine-year-old girl, and despite denial by police, the father insisted that eyewitnesses reported otherwise in the accident happening when Oluremi Tinubu visited Ondo State last week.
At the same time, Atiku Abubakar Isah, a factional President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has accused Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Bola Tinubu and a rival faction leader, Ladoja Olusola, of being responsible for his abduction by gun-wielding thugs in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Presidency has yet to react to the incidents, even as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is being expected back from his trip to France.
However, the Ondo State police command has defended the First Lady’s innocence in the nine-year-old girl’s death.
WITNESSES SAID CAR IN FIRST LADY OLUREMI TINUBU’S CONVOY KILLED MY 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL, SAYS BEREAVED DAD
The father of child Saratul Lawal, who was allegedly killed by a vehicle in the convoy of Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, during her official visit to Akure, Ondo State, has narrated how the incident happened.
Speaking on Friday, Mr. Lawal recounted the events surrounding the tragic incident, insisting that eyewitnesses, mostly members of the Yoruba community, that a vehicle from the First Lady’s convoy crushed his daughter, Saratul, a pupil at an Islamic school in Shasha area of Akure.
Saratul was immediately rushed to the Oba Ile Primary Healthcare Centre, but was later declared dead by doctors.
The Dad narrated: “Yesterday, I was on the road. I stood by the road and saw them when they were going to the airport to carry the President’s wife. I saw the convoy when they were coming back too. But when the incident happened, I was not at that particular spot.
“It did not happen in my presence. It was people who saw it that came to call me, saying one of my daughters had been killed on the road. By the time I rushed there, they had already taken her to the hospital.
“People were telling me to go to the government house to tell them their convoy killed my daughter. I said I can’t do that. What I did not see with my own eyes, I can’t say it was them or not. But many people, the Yoruba people, said they saw it — that it was the convoy.”
“Me, I fear God. All of us will die one day. So I won’t lie. It’s the people around the police station those opposite the station, that saw how the vehicle killed her.”
However, absolving the First Lady of complicity in the accident, the Ondo State Police has stated that no vehicle in the convoy of the wife of the First Lady was responsible.
Remi Tinubu was in Akure to launch the South-West leg of the “Renewed Hope Initiative,” aimed at distributing professional kits to nurses and midwives.
According to the police, eyewitness accounts and preliminary investigations conducted by the Command showed that the incident was caused by a hit-and-run driver operating an unregistered white Lexus vehicle, not by any vehicle belonging to or associated with the First Lady’s convoy.
Ondo State’s Police Commissioner Wilfred Afolabi described the claims that First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s convoy killed a 10-year-old a “diabolical lie.”
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, Afolabi described the claim as a “diabolical lie,” stating that eyewitness accounts confirm the vehicle responsible was not part of the official convoy.
His version of the story on Friday said: “Yesterday, the first lady was around and she was received at Akure airport. Fortunately, I was among the officers that were at the airport to receive her and I was also in the convoy that took her from the airport to the Dome where she had her first event,” the Commissioner explained. After her convoy had passed, after the road closed, we heard of an unfortunate incident that a white Lexus Jeep hit a 10-year-old girl at Oba Ile.
“Unfortunately, being a fast moving vehicle, they could not catch up with him and the relatives of the deceased heard that. I commiserated with them and told them that after the whole event, I’ll be here to pay them condolences. That’s exactly what happened.
“It was a big surprise to me when in the evening, somebody sent some publications to me revealing that one of the vehicles in the first lady’s convoy went out of its way to hit that innocent girl. That’s a blatant lie. I would even refer to it as a diabolical lie. Nothing like that happened.”
Speaking on the efforts to apprehend the culprit, Afolabi said the police have issued alerts across their checkpoints and are actively searching for any white Lexus vehicle with visible damage or bloodstains.
“On receipt of this information and when it was communicated to me, we quickly went on the radio, relayed to all our meeting points and other places where we have roadblocks, that if we see any white Lexus Jeep with bloodstains or maybe with dents in front, that the vehicle should be stopped and apprehended.
“But this I can confirm to you that up to this very moment, we have not yet gotten any result. But the assurance I can give you is that already, the sketching information we have, we are working on it and I believe with God on our side, we’ll get the culprits arrested.”
SEYI TINUBU ORDERED MY ABDUCTION -NANS PRESIDENT
Atiku Abubakar Isah, the factional NANS President, in a statement issued on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, said he was made to record an involuntary statement at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) studio, after being beaten and subjected to dehumanizing treatment.
According to Isah, the President’s son had declared him an enemy for overwhelmingly winning the election as NANS President at the 125th convention of the association.
Isah said his several petitions to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetoken, and other security agencies about the threats to his life, had gone unheeded.
His statement read, “I was abducted in Abuja by gun wielding thugs on the instructions of Seyi Tinubu and Ladoja Olusola. I was beaten, subjected to the most cruel and dehumanising treatments, my clothes torn to shreds and stripped naked.
“I was thereafter hurriedly packaged, and in connivance with the Managing Director of NTA, brought to the station where I was forced to release an involuntary statement.
“Since my overwhelming election as the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), at the 125th convention of the association, Seyi Tinubu has in cohorts with Ladoja, and for whatever reasons best known to him, declared me an enemy, and my life has constantly been under threats.
“I have written several petitions to the Inspector General of Police and other relevant security agencies on this matter.
“I wish to convey my gratitude to the thousands of Nigerian students all over the federation who stood in our defence and called for our immediate and unconditional release. I also wish to appreciate the media and peace loving Nigerians who added their voices in condemning my illegal abduction.
“I will continue to exercise this franchise freely given to me to lead this association in this moment in our history, and no amount of intimidation or threats will make us capitulate to the whims and caprices of the enemies.
“We remain even more resolute and committed to serving the best interests of the overwhelming majority of Nigerian students without fear nor favour.”
