“Principal actors” have been blamed for the violence which rocked Oba Akoko on March 9, 2019, during the last House of Assembly election in Ondo state
This was contained in the report of the Committee of Inquiry which was set up by the State government to probe the disturbance.
According to the report, there was no evidence of coercion or force against the community choice of candidate in the election.
Chairman of the panel, Dr. Femi Awani, made the disclosure while submitting the report of the committee to the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN in his office in Akure on Monday.
He blamed the crisis on the conduct of the principal actors identified in the report, noting that the majority in the community had agreed to support their kinsmen in the election, and that there was no evidence of coercion, force or violence in the pursuit of such an agenda.
The State Government had set up a five-man Panel of Inquiry to probee the crisis and make recommendations to government.
According to Ondo Events, Awani explained that the committee members had series of meetings and paid visits to the affected community for firsthand information and arrangement for public hearings on the memoranda received from interested parties.
He added that the committee equally met privately with security agencies and thereafter held several meetings to deliberate on its findings before coming up with its recommendations.
He disclosed that the youths in Oba-Akoko masterminded the widespread civil disobedience by barricading the roads and attacking the security agents deployed to nip the crisis in the bud.
The Chairman confirmed that evidence before the committee showed that the House of Assembly election at Oba-Akoko was peaceful, orderly, free, fair and credible up till about 2pm when the election had been completed successfully in most of the polling units.
Receiving the report, Akeredolu, thanked the committee for its commitment to the assignment with a promise to study the report carefully so as to take appropriate decisions to address the issues that brought about the unfortunate crisis.
The governor recalled that he had to lift the restrictions of movement clamped on the community at the wake of the avoidable and regrettable incident as a result of the passionate plea and unreserved apologies the people tendered to the State Government.
He assured that government would continue to work towards sustaining policies that would ensure peace across communities in the state.
