Three die in Ibadan political violence

LP, APC restate opposition to violent campaign

THE Assistant Inspector General of Police, zone 11, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye has confirmed that three persons died in last weekend political violence which occurred at Odinjo-Ode-Ige Iyana Modina area of Ibadan in Ibadan South-East Local Government involving supporters of the Accord party (AP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC).

     Among the casualties was the alleged mastermind of the violence while nine persons were reportedly injured during the bloody clash.

        Okoye warned politicians in the state to prevail on their supporters to avoid violence and brigandage warning that henceforth, politicians would be held responsible for any case of electoral violence.

    To ensure a free and violence free election in the forthcoming polls, the AIG  said the peace pact which politicians in Osun State had signed would also be signed in Oyo and Ondo States.

    He warned the politicians not think that the pact was just for signing sake saying police would not take it lightly with them if they engaged in any form of violence after signing the peace pact.

      In his remarks, the state police commissioner, Mohammed Katsina said suspects arrested during the fracas would be charged to court irrespective of their political affiliations.

      He added that any politician who organized any rally without giving notice to the police would be arrested and arraigned.

      He said, “At the middle of that campaign, some groups of rampaging youths, while armed with dangerous weapons seized the area and started firing sporadically, though the organiser of the meeting never informed the police contrary to my earlier directive for us to provide adequate security, my men nearby were attracted by the pandemonium created by the attack. As a result, they swiftly moved into the arena, where they engaged the hoodlums”.

     “From today, any other political rally or meeting organised in any place, in any manner, without informing the police, any aftermath of that, the organiser will also have himself to blame, no matter how highly placed. The Oyo State Police Command hereby declares a total war against criminals in the state, either political thugs or any other miscreants. To this, I mean whoever procures, sponsors any items of violence for the purpose or criminal motive of unleashing mayhem, causing instability or threat to life in any part of Oyo State will have himself to blame”, he said.

       Among the items the police said were recovered from the suspects include one pump action rifle, three live cartridges and three expended cartridges.

      The suspects, according to the police, included Afeez Ishola, Olamide Ijaola, Sikiru Tunayese, Sunday Balogun, Lekan Ogeroju, Kazeem Ajibola, Kehinde Emiola and Musibau Akinola.

     Meanwhile Labour Party and APC have condemned the spate of sponsored violence in the state calling on the police to do everything within their power to curb the ugly situation

     The Labour Party (LP) in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity,  Taiwo Ibrahim, the Labour Party condemned the violence in the state capital and called on security agencies to stem the tide so as not to reduce the state to a theatre of war as a result of the inordinate ambitions of certain individuals.

      “Certain people are bent on regaining or retaining power at all cost like the biblical Saul, but such people should be told that this state is greater than all of us and we cannot afford to stand by and watch them shed the blood of innocent citizens as a result of their ambitions. Both actors  should know that politics in Oyo State has risen beyond falsehood and unholy propaganda where the world would be told one thing whereas the opposite is the case, they have both proved that they are the real agents of violence which they have consistently  professed against others”, he said

    Also, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised alarm over alleged plans by the opposition to instigate violence as a plot to puncture the three and half years of peace that its party had brought to the state since it cane on board.