Osun State is burning less than 48 hours after the Governor, Ademola Adeleke, alerted President Bola Tinubu of high powered moves to throw the state into crisis.
Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) clashed on Monday leaving five persons dead and several others injured.
Witnesses said the purportedly reinstated Chairman of Irewole Local Government, Remi Abass, has been killed by hoodlums working for PDP, after he took charge of the council secretariat in Ikire.
Osun State is governed by the PDP with both parties laying claim to control of the local government areas.
The APC claimed that the Court of Appeal judgment delivered last week reinstated the sacked elected council chairmen and councillors while the state government said the election was nullified by the Federal High Court in Osogbo.
On Monday, February 17, the now deceased Abass led other sacked council officials to take over in line with the court’s verdict and reportedly entered the Secretariat when hoodlums allegedly working for the PDP stormed the Secretariat to dislodge them.
Witnesses said there was an exchange of gunshots during which Abbas was killed while several others were injured, even as some hoodlums stormed the highway shooting sporadically into the air, creating tension in the community and forcing motorists to scamper for safety.
Some thugs “came out from the building opposite the Secretariat, wielding gun. They deliberately targeted the council chairman. Many surrounded him and did not allow him to escape from the scene and killed him”, witnesses said.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of Osun State Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, said police officers had been deployed to the affected areas, insisting that the crisis was being investigated.
Meanwhile, Governor Adeleke has said that at least five members of the PDP were killed on Monday during the attempt by the APC to take over some local government areas forcefully.
He also directed Osun residents, including politicians, across political divides to stay away from the local government secretariats to protect public properties and avoid further bloodshed.
In a statement signed by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke said, “I, therefore, direct all law-abiding Osun residents to stay away from the council secretariats, especially as they are expected to be under lock and key.”
The statement continued, “I equally condole families of victims of the APC’s illegal takeover bid, and the chaos unleashed across the state by the APC and their hired thugs. PDP lost five members, with several others wounded.
Two of those members are from Iragbiji, Boripe local government. Another two were killed at Ola Oluwa Local Government. Another one was lost at Ikire. We must stop the bloodshed.”
This is as the state Commissioner for protocol and government affairs, Soji Ajeigbe, alleged that two PDP members, identified as Ege and Igara, were killed by gun-wielding thugs working for the APC.
On his part, APC Chieftain, Jamiu Olawumi, while addressing a press conference in Osogbo, said, “Today our chairmen and councillors resumed in 15 out of 30, including Ilesha, Ife North, and Irewole, among others; even Ede South, which houses the governor’s private apartments, has resumed before 9 a.m.
“Surprisingly, the PDP started mobilising hoodlums to the secretariats to attack the chairmen who resumed offices at their various locations. The SSG also led thugs to the Osogbo Local Government area.”
Recall, on Sunday, the State Governor accused the DSS, Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) of aiding President Bola Tinubu`s nephew in his bid to throw the state into crisis.
Governor Adeleke during a world press conference pointed out that, the said nephew to the President is the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola.
The Governor at the press conference explained that it was “about a deliberate plot to create chaos and anarchy in Osun state,” as he called on the media to expose what he described as “a fascist anti-democratic agenda designed to enforce a non-existing court judgment on our local governments.”
Last Monday a three-man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal, Akure, Ondo State, delivered judgment on the sacked council chairmen and councillors across the local government areas of the state.
Governor Adeleke said that there is a subsisting judgment of the Court that sacked the Chairmen and Councillors produced by the 2022 local government polls, urging Mr President to instruct the Attorney General of the Federation to personally verify the fact that the Court of Appeal judgment did not reinstate the sacked local government Chairmen and Councilors.
In his address to the press he affirmed his confidence in the President’s respect for the rule of law, asserting that Tinubu is a true democrat, a lover of rule of law, and a believer in the sanctity of the judicial process who “will never authorise a dictatorial violation of the constitution irrespective of who is involved.”
According to him, the President will not support any action that is capable of generating bloodbath and bloodshed, as he alerted him that Oyetola has put machinery in motion to cause mayhem in the state by issuing illegal directives to security operatives to enforce illegality.
He further added, “I chose to alert the nation before my people are killed or maimed by a minister dropping the name of Mr. President in connivance with the Osun state security operatives obeying unlawful orders.
“The bone of contention is the brazen effrontery to return to office council chairmen sacked by a subsisting court Judgment using a different court decision, which has no consequential order.
Let me make it clear that the said Council Chairmen were sacked before I was sworn in as Governor of Osun State, contrary to the lies being peddled, that the Chairmen and Councilors were sacked by my Executive Order.”
