The lawmaker blamed fraudsters for his predicament.
The video clip shows Owoeye bathing n*ked in the midnight and was caught by some members of a community who attributed it to ritual purposes. In the video, some people were questioning the lawmaker on why he was bathing in the midnight with a traditional sponge and why was it within their community. Owoeye was said to have escaped the wrath of the community members after the intervention of a community leader who pleaded for his freedom on self-recognition.
But in a telephone interview yesterday to NewTelegraph, Owoeye dismissed the accusation that he was caught n-ked while performing ritual. The lawmaker attributed it to the handiwork of fraudsters who wanted to blackmail him and silence him over a case of fraud. Owoeye said those behind the video had been arrested by police and would be arraigned on Wednesday.
He said: “Those who are versed in the antics of fraudsters will know that the video is an advanced state of fraud to blackmail.
“I can’t say more than that now, I have been talking since morning. I will definitely speak further on this after the court sitting on Wednesday.”
Also, the Commissioner of Police, Adeoye Fimihan, in a statement, said fraudsters were trying to blackmail Owoeye. He said: “God will help Nigeria and Nigerians.
“That man is a victim of fraudsters. He, unfortunately, played into the hands of fraudsters, who defrauded him of huge sums of money and later tricked him into that place in a way of getting something and to continually blackmail him, with a view to getting more money from him.
“It is not as if he was there to do any ritual. We have arrested some of them (fraudsters) and they have been charged to court.
We even recovered about N10 million from them out of the money they swindled the man. Whatever is trending is not the truth. That fellow is a victim of fraudsters.”
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Science, Innovation and Technology, Hon. Remi Omowaiye, said the 13 second video clip was in an attempt to rubbish his reputation.
Omowaiye explained that the lawmaker was stripped, beaten, molested, dehumanised and subjected to ridicule. The commissioner said Owoeye was lucky to have escaped in the hands of the fraudsters, who later turned to be kidnappers and assailants.
He said: “I want to call on discerning minds to carefully X-ray the clip, no traces of human or animal blood was sighted as being falsely peddled around. The clip was released to score undue political point by a chieftain of a major opposition party who had access to the video clip after a failed attempt to stop the prosecution of those arrested.
“The police have recovered substantial amount of the swindled amount from those arrested.” One of the lawmaker’s aides, Sunkanmi Obisesan, said the video showed that Owoeye was dragged to a spot and held hostage on July 7 after he was swindled of several millions of naira over a failed transaction. He said:
“As a mark of appreciation to God, Hon. Timothy Owoeye had a Thanksgiving Service on July 22, following the divine escape from the den of kidnappers. Owoeye is not involved in any ritual whatsoever but a pure victim of circumstance.
“People are advised to disregard the clip in its entirety as the court will be his last resort to seek redress to the unjust hardship he is subjected to.”
Also, in a post, Hon. Rotimi Makinde, a former House of Representatives member representing Osun East, attributed the incident to attack of hoodlums. He said the hoodlums took the House Majority leader to a bush and stripped him. They took clips of his condition and demanded N50 million. They ordered him not to inform the police of the matter
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