The All Progressives Congress in Oyo State has accused t h e Peoples Democratic Party of masterminding the lingering violence in the Oke Ado area of Ibadan. The violence commenced Friday last week before spreading to other parts of the city.
Chairman of the Oyo State APC, Akin Oke, who addressed the media at the Governor’s Office in Ibadan on Wednesday, described the violence, which he said was threatening the peace of the state, as appalling and unacceptable.
Oke said the violence was being sponsored by the opposition to discredit the government of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
He said, “The Friday’s unprovoked attacks on the citizenry at Oke-Ado area of Ibadan and the ones recorded at Born Photo, Popo Yemoja, Idi Arere and environs on Sunday as well as the mayhem which ravaged Idikan, Opo Yeosa and environs on Tuesday were a clear manifestation of the script the opposition elements in the state had prepared for implementation. They are with a view to creating a tense atmosphere ahead of the 2015 general elections and discrediting the ruling party, which has received global applause for stamping out lawlessness since we came into power in May 2011.
“The case of terror unleashed on the Oke-Ado community last Friday was the handiwork of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party who sent a group of thugs on its payroll, led by one Ekugbemi, to cause a breach of public peace and thereby prevent Governor Ajimobi from visiting the Ibadan South-West Local Government Council area.”
Oke explained that the APC position was arrived at after eyewitnesses’ accounts fingered the thug and his men in the mayhem.
He added, “Eyewitnesses’ accounts have it that some miscreants loyal to Ekugbemi were the ones who started the trouble when one of them launched an assault on a commercial motorcyclist. The police tried to checkmate this when the sponsored thugs began to shoot sporadically and killed a police officer while some other innocent members of the public sustained various degrees of injuries in the process.
“We also gathered from a reliable source that the gang of political thugs which was fingered in the Oke-Ado violence engaged a rival group, led by one ‘Omo Alhaja’, in a battle of wits on Friday, which led to the wanton destruction of property as well as harassment of innocent residents of Born Photo, Idi Arere, Popo Yemoja and environs on Sunday.”
While absolving APC members of any involvement in the fracas, the party chairman challenged the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Jumoke Akinjide, to define her relationship with one of the thugs.
He also accused a former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, of complicity in the Ibadan violence, saying he should prove to the public that he was not the one sponsoring the gang of Omo Alhaja.
He alleged that the said Omo Alhaja played a prominent role in the violence that marred the rescheduled ward congress of the PDP in the state last Monday.
While reacting to the allegations, the PDP Chairman in Oyo State, Yinka Taiwo, denied the party’s alleged relationship with the thugs.
In a statement on Wednesday, Taiwo said, “It is sad that rather than take responsibility for the destruction of properties and waste of innocent lives being witnessed in Ibadan in the last few days as a result of APC’s desperation ahead of the 2015 elections, the party has chosen to shift blames.
“How and where did the PDP perpetrate the violence in Ibadan? Can the APC authenticate this demonic and baseless claim? Much as we will not like to dignify APC, we state unequivocally that the PDP is committed to the peace and well-being of the people of Oyo State.”
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