‘I didn’t assault officials, release my boys’ – Portable begs Ogun govt from hiding

Controversial singer Habeeb ‘Portable’ Okikiola has broken his silence over the arrest and arraignment of nine associates before an Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court in Ogun State on Friday.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the 30-year-old went into hiding after the Ogun State Police Command arrested and arraigned his protégés for allegedly assaulting officers of the Ogun State Planning and Development Permit Authority (OGPDPA).

Portable revealed that OGPDPA officials sealed his unfinished building and hotel in Sango-Ota, arrested and detained over 20 of his workers, and confiscated alcoholic beverages from his bar.

Speaking from hiding in a series of videos on his Instagram page on Saturday, the ‘Your Papa No Be Army’ crooner pleaded with the state government to release his protégés.

The Ogun-born singer further denied allegations of assaulting government officials, insisting that he was being unjustly targeted.

He said: “I didn’t fight anyone from the Ogun State Planning and Development Permit Authority (OGPDPA). I challenge them to post videos of where I fought with them in my bar. The children they arrested are harmless—they are learning trades. I am only helping them. Did they find Indian hemp in my bar? No. Instead, they took phones, drinks, and everything inside.

“Please, I am begging—release my boys. Their parents needed them, and I was only helping them. I have been brooding. Don’t push me to the point of suicide—I am already losing weight. Those arrested are like family to me. Please release those children. I have done nothing to deserve this.”

Raid

The ‘Spider-Man’ crooner, who appeared to be speaking from hiding, alleged that government officials confiscated properties from his bar and injured his apprentice and customers.

Narrating how the incident unfolded, Portable claimed he had been asleep before rushing to the scene, saying, “The government officials came to the house I was building and my bar, forcing all of us out while I was asleep. They went to my academy (Odogwu Bar), where I supported not just musicians but also fashion designers, carpenters, bricklayers, and others, caring for other people’s children.

“The house they sealed was built on the land where I exhumed my mother’s remains—she died when I was 13 years old. I later built a mansion there. The issue of cancelling my house is entirely different. They raided my bar, seized my property, injured my apprentice, beat my customers, and sent them away. When I arrived, they handed me a document dated 2024, and I told them, ‘This is 2025; I can’t accept this.’”

Assault on officials

However, the state government has issued a warning to Portable over what it described as his repeated assaults on government officials without provocation.

In a statement on Friday, signed by the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Information and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade condemned the singer’s actions.

Mr Akinmade denounced the singer and his associates’ attack on government officials as unacceptable and barbaric, emphasising that such misconduct would be dealt with by the law.

The statement partly read: “How Portable and some set of miscreants he employed in the dastardly act attacked the officials of the state planning and development permit Authority is not only bizarre but a confirmation of erosion of Omoluabi ethos in those individuals and indeed a great disgrace to the state.

“Governor Dapo Abiodun condemned this primitive and indecent act and reiterated his avowed commitment to a just and egalitarian society as he is ready to make any individual flouting the extant law of the land face the full wrath of the law irrespective of social status and influence.”