Splinter group leader escapes assassination
PDP wants APC secretariat shut down
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
One of the leaders of The Osun Progressives, a splinter group in the ruling All Progressives Congress in Osun State, Biyi Odunlade, has reportedly escaped an attempted assassination.
It was gathered that some suspected gunmen stormed the Ile-Ife residence of Odunlade around 8pm on Saturday, vandalised his house, cars and looted his wife’s shop.
The former Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Special Needs told newsmen that the assailants who arrived his home about 8:15pm also maltreated his house girl and harassed his wife who immediately locked herself in her room for safety.
The loyalist of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said, “At about 8:15pm on Saturday, some men in two cars, one white Jeep and another car, stormed my residence wielding dangerous weapons like guns, matchets etc. They forced the gate open, shooting sporadically into the air and shouting “where is Biyi Odunlade.” I had just stepped out of my residence.
“They harassed my wife who quickly ran into her room and locked herself in. They vandalised my car, broke my windows, looted my wife’s shop and carted away valuables and cash. They maltreated my house girl, Miracle, that was inside the shop and went away with the shop’s bunch of keys.”
Recall that the Chairman of TOP, a group loyal to Aregbesola, Reverend Adelowo Adebiyi, had alleged that forces in the government and Ileri Oluwa, a group loyal to Governor Gboyega Oyetola, were making plans to assassinate some leaders of TOP.
The Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Ismail Omipidan, had described the assassination alarm as baseless and unfounded and argued that the splinter group was up to a sinister move to cause havoc. Also, the leadership of APC in the state had lambasted the group for making such allegation and denied any of such plot, saying no plan to attack anyone.
There had been pockets of attacks by political thugs at the party secretariat at the weekend when some members of the party stormed the secretariat to submit petitions against the recently held Ward Congress in the state.
Meanwhile, the State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has flayed the ruling party over the crises rocking.
In a statement made available by Ayodeji Areola, the State Publicity Secretary of the party, the party asked security agencies in the state to shut down the APC secretariat, owing to the attacks it witnessed to forestall the breakdown of law and order in the state, especially the capital.
“They forced the gate open, shooting sporadically into the air and shouting “where is Biyi Odunlade”
The PDP said, “Osun PDP though, not surprised that democratic management of party affairs is alien to APC, but we are at sea as to how a ruling party with a sitting governor would allow issues emanating from ordinary ward congress degenerate to such a dangerous level that has now portrayed the state as the nation’s capital of negativities.
“While Mr Oyetola wobbles to find solution to the raging war in his ‘APC house of guns’, we urge the Nigerian Police, The DSS and other relevant security agencies to rise in the gap (sic) of leadership vacuum as it concerns their primary duty of security of our people.
“They should rise up to the occasion by closing down APC secretariats in the state as they have become convergence points of war in place of party administration. This is with a view to de-escalating the violent battle in Mr Oyetola’s political house of commotion to avoid further loss of lives especially.”
