SCARBOROUGH, Tobago (CMC) – Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley is accusing the coalition People’s Partnership Government of wanting him dead.

“First time in Trinidad and Tobago, the Opposition Leader is under attack from the Government. And when I’m not under attack from their friends who they hire to kill me, I’m under attack from their friends who they hire to lie about me,” Rowley told a public meeting of the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) here on Sunday night.

Rowley told supporters that a few months ago he had informed people in the country that for the first time “in my 30 years (in public office) I feared for my personal safety.

“Lo and behold, as I speak to you now, I’m surrounded by people who you pay to protect me from people who will have me killed,” Rowley told supporters.

Over the weekend, PNM public relations officer Faris Al Rawi, who is also one of Rowley’s attorneys, said that there was confirmation by national security forces at the highest level that there was “a physical assassination attempt aimed at removing Rowley at a price tag of TT$15 million (One TT dollar =US$0.16 cents).

“The question for Trinidad and Tobago is this, who stands to benefit from Dr. Rowley’s elimination,” Al Rawi asked.

But National Security Minister Carl Alfonso said he is unaware of any attempt on Rowley’s life.

He told reporters Sunday that while the police may be aware of the threat, the Commissioner of Police is yet to inform him.

 “Security has become a big concern and seems to be a growing concern generally speaking. I have not been told by anybody, any official persons that there is a threat on Mr Rowley’s life,” he added.

While he did not disclose any names as to who would be lying against him,, Rowley was apparently making reference to the former investigative journalist with the Trinidad Express newspaper, Anika Gumbs, who resigned her post over the weekend, claiming that she was “mentally scarred” and “traumatised” by “an unfortunate experience” with Rowley.

In her resignation letter dated August 7, Gumbs stated that during a visit to Rowley’s home in Diego Martin, west of here, on April 20 to pursue a story she was “astonished” to see he was bareback.

She also claimed that she had informed Rowley that she had received prank calls and “to her shock and surprise,” Rowley said: “Would you hire me to be your bodyguard outside your bedroom?

She also indicated that on a previous visit to Rowley’s home on April 9, he touched her on her back and asked if she had a tattoo of a map on it. She said she told him that the “tattoo on my back was not a map but a butterfly”. She said Rowley asked her the meaning of the butterfly tattoo, and she replied: “It’s all part of being chic”.

Rowley, who is leading the PNM into the September 7 general election, has since said he has placed the matter in the hands of his attorneys.