Two Injured As Security Agents Rescue Osun APC Appeal Committee Members
By Toba Adedeji, Osogbo
The crisis rocking Osun All Progressive Congress (APC) took another turn on Saturday when loyalists of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and Minister for Interior, Rauf Aregbesola clashed at the party’s secretariat during the hearing of petitions by the Ward Congress Appeal Committee.
Two members, Muyideen Ajetunmonbi and Lukman Hassan of Osogbo Local Government Area, were injured during the pandemonium that broke out when gunshots were heard.
The committee had informed it received 32 petitions from 10 wards over last Saturday’s ward congress.
Party members stormed the APC secretariat as early as 8am on Saturday to submit more petitions.
Tension rose at the secretariat when loyalists of Governor Oyetola and Aregbesola met for explanations on some of the petitions.
A brawl later ensued between them with one of Oyetola’s loyalists, Muyideen Ajetunmonbi, injured on his head.
He told The Nation some loyalists of Aregbesola led by chairman of a group within the APC, The Osun Progressives (TOP), Elder Adelowo Adebiyi, led thugs into the premises to attack any member with the cap of Oyetola’s second term campaign.
But Adebiyi denied the allegation, saying he didn’t lead thugs to the venue.
He said he was invited to expatiate on a petition he submitted, alleging the state government had already hired thugs against members submitting petitions to intimidate them.
The clash went on between both camps with gunshots heard at the secretariat, forcing committee members to hurriedly conclude the sitting for the day.
Security operatives fired several bullets to scare hoodlums fomenting trouble and rescued the committee members.
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola called for calm, urging members to give peace a chance and allow the ongoing appeal process to run its full course.
He directed security operatives to take charge of the party secretariat to prevent any further breakdown of law and order.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Ismail Omipidan, on Saturday, the Governor condemned what he termed the “unruly behaviour” exhibited by some aggrieved members of the party at the APC Secretariat in Osogbo, saying no sane society would condone any act of lawlessness.
– The Nation
