Hold APC responsible for electoral violence

The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has asked security agencies to hold the All Progressives Congress responsible for any occurrence of violence before, during and after the August 9 governorship election in the state.

The Chairman of Osun PDP, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, said this in reaction to a statement credited to the APC regarding electoral violence in the state.

While addressing a news conference in Osogbo, the Director General of the Rauf Aregbesola Campaign Organisation, Senator Sola Adeyeye, had reportedly accused PDP members in the state of killing a member of the APC, Tolu Adeosun, in Ilesa and warned that the APC members would retaliate, when pushed to the wall.

In response, Olaoluwa said “The police should hold the APC responsible for any bloodshed in Osun State before, during and after the August 9 governorship election.”

He said the PDP had always complained that the APC was bent on fomenting trouble and added that the APC’s statement should not be treated as an empty threat.

Meanwhile, the Iyiola Omisore Campaign Organisation has refuted reports that PDP members attacked and killed an APC member in Ilesa.

In a statement on Sunday, the organisation said the death occurred when the PDP campaign train was attacked by thugs believed to be working for the APC.

“The campaign train of Peoples Democratic Party came under attack at an Ilesa rally shortly after its gubernatorial candidate in the forthcoming August 9 election in Osun, Senator Iyiola Omisore, and other PDP party leaders paid a courtesy visit to Owa Adumila of Ijesaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, in his palace.

“The DSS officers attached to Senator Omisore were injured in the attack. Also, the vehicle conveying the party chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, was badly smashed though both Omisore and other party chiefs escaped unhurt.

“The attack was allegedly led by the “State Boys,” a group of political thugs working for the APC. It was actually the APC supporters that instigated the violence,” the statement read in parts.

Omisore’s camp added that since the commencement of its rallies, it had not recorded any violence or breach of the peace before Ilesa incident.

Also, a former National Deputy Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, has condemned the attack and warned that violence has a potential of throwing the state into chaos.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Olalere Fagbola, Oyedokun urged members of the APC not to throw the state into confusion.