NURTW Official Killed in Ambush on Ikorodu Road
The organising secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Lagos State Council, Toba Ajiboye, popularly known as Ijaya, was killed after gunmen opened fire on his vehicle along the Ikorodu Road axis of Lagos.
Ajiboye was ambushed on Sunday night, July 12, as he made his way back from Fadeyi, his childhood neighbourhood. Armed men intercepted his vehicle and fired repeatedly, leaving it riddled with bullet holes on both the windscreen and body. Images and footage circulating online after the attack showed the extent of the damage to Ajiboye's vehicle.
Early accounts suggested that Ajiboye and others in the vehicle had survived with gunshot wounds, but he subsequently succumbed to those injuries at St. Nicholas Hospital on Lagos Island.
MC Oluomo Reacts to Ijaya's Death
Musiliu Akinsanya, widely known as MC Oluomo and the current national president of the NURTW, described the attack on his ally as heinous, barbaric, and unacceptable. He urged the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other relevant security agencies to investigate the murder, apprehend those responsible, and bring them to justice without delay.
Ajiboye was a known ally of MC Oluomo, who has himself survived a previous assassination attempt. In January 2019, Akinsanya was stabbed during a political rally held in Ikeja in support of then-governorship candidate Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Violence broke out at the event after suspected thugs clashed, leading to a shootout in which journalists, including reporters from The Nation and New Telegraph newspapers and a television cameraman, were also struck by stray bullets.
A Pattern of Violence Around MC Oluomo's Associates
The killing of Ajiboye is not the first time individuals connected to MC Oluomo's network have been targeted. In September 2015, Olayinka Mamora, an aide of Akinsanya popularly called Mamok, was hacked to death inside a barbing salon in the Oshodi area of Lagos. In 2019, two men, Ayuba Balogun and Evans Adamson, were ordered remanded by a Lagos State Magistrates' Court sitting in Igbosere over the alleged murder and related firearms offences.
Three years later, in August 2022, Sulaimon Onaolapo, known as Arikuyeri or Ariku, was killed by suspected cultists near Mile 12 in the Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos. Reports, including from Premium Times, identified him as the NURTW chairman for that area and a figure within MC Oluomo's union network. A photograph shared online showed his body lying in a pool of blood.
Ajiboye's killing marks the third publicly documented case of a close associate of the NURTW leader losing his life to targeted violence.
List of MC Oluomo's Assassinated Associates
- Olayinka Mamora (Mamok) – Hacked to death in a barbing salon in Oshodi, Lagos, in September 2015.
- Sulaimon Onaolapo (Ariku) – Killed by suspected cultists near Mile 12, Kosofe LGA, Lagos, in August 2022.
- Toba Ajiboye (Ijaya) – Shot dead on Ikorodu Road on July 12, 2026.
