A victim of the clash identified as Nurudeem Ajetunmobi (Photo Credit: Olasunkanmi Akinlotan)
Supporters of Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola and the Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, on Saturday engaged themselves in a bloody clash over the last party’s ward congress at its secretariat in Osogbo, leaving several persons with varying degrees of injuries.
Both now lead the two main antagonistic factions into which the APC has split in the state. While the Ileri Oluwa faction campaigning for the governor’s return to complete his statutory second term of four years each in office has the governor as its principal, The Osun Progressives, TOP is loyal to Aregbesola.
Notably both were formerly intimate political associates. Indeed Oyetola served prominently in the administration of Aregbesola, when the latter served as the state governor for eight years until he was appointed a minister by President Muhammadu Buhari. As a matter of fact, Aregbesola handed over to Oyetola as governor before his appointment in Abuja.
In a case that could be described as godfather-godson relationship now turned awry, tempers were high as their groups clashed on the premises of the party’s state secretariat, while awaiting members of Appeal Committee hearing petitions arising from the last Ward Congress of the party.
According to The Punch, a large number of the Aregbesola-backed group had stormed the party secretariat as early as 9am to submit more petitions to the panel.
But at 10.40am while waiting for the panel’s arrival, some supporters of Oyetola and Aregbesoola, engaged in physical combat as security men stationed at the entrance to the premises looked on.
The vehicle conveying members of the committee, accompanied by the state Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode, later arrived the premises around 11am.
Olokode, who spoke first, told the crowd that the police would ensure their safety but urged them to be orderly.
Speaking in similar vein, the Chairman of the Ward Congress Appeal Committee, Ambassador Obed Wadzani, promised that the panel would be fair to all and attend to all petitions brought by members.
He said, “We are members of the APC Ward Congresses Appeals Committee. We are also members of the APC. We have come from the national headquarters, Abuja to specifically come and look at the appeals and petitions from members of the APC in Osun State. We have come to assure you that we are all members of the same family. We are here to assure you that we will be fair, just and we will look at the petitions that you bring to us with all the sense of responsibility that is expected of the national level.”
The panel proceeded with the exercise in peace until around 4.20pm, when fresh pandemonium broke out, after some hoodlums invaded the secretariat, wielding sticks and firing gunshots.
Many people were feared injured as people caught in the melee ran in different directions to escape being hit while some vehicles parked in front of the secretariat were also hit and damaged during the attack.
Several gunshots were fired into the air as the police battled to put the situation under check.
Members of the committee were later seen being escorted out of the party secretariat by armed police operatives and some vehicles of Joint Task Force.
The chairman of the Appeal Committee, Ambassador Obed Wadzani, could not be reached on his mobile line for comment and reply to the text message sent to him was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.
“I appeal to party members, especially those who have already filed their petitions before the Appeal Committee over the conduct of the last Ward Congress in the state to sheathe their swords and toe the line of peace and the law,” the governor said.
Premium Times reports witnesses saying that the fight broke out after the two groups met at the secretariat where they had gone to submit petitions over the just concluded ward congress of the party.
Buraimo Adeleye, a party member who said he was at the secretariat, accused the Aregbesola group of instigating the clash “for no just reason.”
“While waiting to have the appeal committee, who arrived late, the TOP [The Osun Progressives] group stormed the party secretariat in their large numbers and started chasing our members.
“This caused members to scamper for safety and that was how the fracas started.”
One Nurudeen Ajetunmobi was said to have been severely injured alongside other party members by some unknown thugs.
Protest at secretariat
Witnesses said a few minutes after the clash, the party members loyal to Aregbesola returned to the secretariat in large numbers chanting ‘TOP TOP TOP,’ ‘loke loke.’ Loke is a Yoruba word for ‘top.’
A video shared on social media showed the protesters accusing the governor of sponsoring thugs to the party secretariat.
In the 21 minutes video, an elderly man in the crowd was seen saying, “Oyetola ko loni APC”, meaning, the governor is not the owner of the APC in the state.
But in his reaction, Oyetola appealed to rival members of the party to maintain decorum and give peace a chance adding that the ongoing appeal process should be allowed to run its full course.
He also condemned what he termed as “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 governor, who spoke through a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Ismail Omipidan, directed security operatives to take charge of the party secretariat to prevent any further breakdown of law and order.
Oyetola, while sympathising with individuals who sustained injuries, called on security operatives to fish out perpetrators and ensure justice is served.
He said: “I appeal to party members, especially those who have already filed their petitions before the Appeal Committee over the conduct of the last Ward Congress in the State to sheathe their swords and toe the line of peace and the law.
“Since the matter is already before the Appeal Committee, they should allow the process to run its full course. We are known for peace as a people. We should do all in our power to sustain that recognition in our collective interest,” the governor said.
‘Plans to attack leaders’
On Thursday, the TOP had organised a press conference in Osogbo where they alleged that some people within the party and government were planning to attack leaders of their faction.
Adelowo Adebiyi, the TOP chairman, said the planned attack was because of the group’s struggle to restructure and re-energise the party.
But Gboyega Famodun, the APC caretaker chairman in the state and member of the group loyal to the governor, described the allegation as baseless.
Omipidan also described the allegations as an attempt to smear his principal’s name.
He said Adebiyi had, in the last three years, done everything to portray the governor and his administration as capable of violence.
“This was a man some persons tried to assassinate last year. God in his infinite mercies delivered him. Till date, Mr Governor has not lifted a finger. But if it were Adelowo, only God knows what would have happened,” Mr Omipidan said.
“At his level as the former acting chairman of the party, if he has any issue, he should see security operatives and give them the particulars that will aid their job rather than make spurious and unguarded statements.
“That said, I want to implore security operatives to be on the alert. Elder Adebiyi and others might be the ones actually plotting something sinister and might therefore just be looking for an alibi. Isn’t it said that we judge others by our own standards?“
