After relative peace that permeated the Oyo State for eight years under Abiola Ajimobi administration, peace is now giving way to thuggery. Some political thugs were said to have attacked some elected Chairmen Supreme Court asked to resume to their offices after Governor Seyi Makinde sacked and replaced them with Caretaker Committee last year.
The Chairman of the Afijio Local Government Area of the state, Samuel Aderemi, was allegedly waylaid and abducted by the thugs who reportedly stormed the council secretariat in the early hours of the day.
Aderemi, who was said to have been beaten to a pulp by his attackers, was later whisked away in a bus but was rescued hours later by security agents.
Similarly, there were reported skirmishes in the Ibadan North, Ibadan North East and Omi Apata local council development areas on Wednesday as political thugs reportedly went on the rampage.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lukmon Anwo, was said to have been attacked.
Men of the Oyo State Police Command, with some personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, later quelled the crisis in the affected areas.
It was learnt that some party loyalists suffered varying degrees of injury in a free-for-all.
The state ALGON chairman, Abass Aleshinloye, in a telephone interview, said some of his members were rushed to hospitals for treatment.
He said,
“We know where this is coming from. They instigated thugs to attack some of our members in an attempt to prevent us from carrying out our constitutional duties.”
The sacked chairmen and councillors had on Monday resumed duty after being relieved of their jobs eight months ago by Makinde.
Recall that the leadership of the National Union of Local Government Employees had on Sunday directed its members to stay at home to avoid being causalities.
ALGON in a statement titled, ‘We resist a government of lawlessness,’ signed by Abass-Alesinloye, said it was aware of the attacks on some of its members at the local government secretariats by the state-sponsored thugs.
“This latest act of vandalism, violence, and attempt on the lives of ALGON members in some local Government areas is an act of cowardice of a malicious government that is refusing to accept the reality of supremacy of law over lawlessness, and superiority of the Supreme Court judgment against the illegal dissolution of local government councils.
“Since midnight, many of our members’ homes have been targeted by government-sponsored death squads in their bid to truncate our mandate by any means.
“If democracy must survive, then the rule of law and obedience to the court judgment, including the subsisting judgment of the Oyo State High Court, which gave perpetual injunction against local government dissolution is non-negotiable,” the statement read.
Attempts by our correspondent to get the reaction of Babatunde Oduyoye, Special Adviser to Governor Makinde on Political Affairs, was abortive as calls made to his telephone line were not picked and a message sent to his line was not replied to.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Police Command, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said,
“There is no official report on the abduction of anybody, including the APC Chairman in Afijio.
“However, efforts have been intensified as the police have been positioned to give maximum protection to lives and property in all the councils, as well as all the nooks and crannies of Oyo State.”
www.sojworldnews.com (c) January 30, 2020
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