Tunji Akinosi said contrary to the claims in the video, it was the hawker who brushed his car.
A House of Representatives member-elect, Tunji Akinosi, alleged to have knocked down a hawker in Lagos has denied the allegation.
Mr Akinosi was elected to the House of Representatives on 25 February in Ogun State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
PREMIUM TIMES reported how a woman in a video clip accused Mr Akinosi of assaulting her after his vehicle hit a hawker.
But Mr Akinosi said contrary to the claims in the video, it was the hawker who brushed his car.
Mr Akinosi said while his vehicle was caught in heavy traffic in the Onikan axis of Lagos due to the May Day celebration, one of the hawkers hustling on the road ran into his car and damaged a side mirror.
He said, immediately after his driver stopped to pick up the broken mirror, the hawker fell on the floor claiming he had a broken leg to escape being asked to pay for the damage. However, he said the hawker later apologised for the damage.
"There was traffic along the Onikan axis due to the May Day celebration, and in an attempt to outwit each other, the hawkers were everywhere and along the hustling, one of them ran into my car's side mirror and damaged it. Immediately my driver stopped to pick up the remains, the hawker fell on the floor claiming he had a broken leg, sensing the damage and expenses involved'.
"Before you know what was going on, some individuals surrounded my car banging on the owner's side asking me to come down that I had hit and wounded a hawker. But I answered them that my driver was already attending to the matter', he explained.
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"A lady emerged from nowhere and shouted at the top of her voice that she knows me and trying to disclose my identity. When the matter was becoming rowdy, I gave them two options. First was that we would all first move to the police station to lodge a formal complaint and from there, to the General Hospital, Onikan. I said I was ready to pay all the bills if he is discovered to have a fractured leg but if he is not diagnosed with such, he will buy the complete set of my car's side mirror.
"On hearing my options, the hawker jumped up begging me to allow him to continue with his hawking, saying it was those people that asked him to pretend he had a fractured leg. The question is, as a lawmaker-elect, are we not entitled to some rights too or does it deprive us of being a Nigerian?. "
Mr Akinosi said the video on the incident making the rounds was done in bad taste, describing it as an attempt to smear his personality. He urged Nigerians to always avoid creating a mob environment.
