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In Jigawa, Rivers and Zamfara states, every gubernatorial candidate has signed peace pacts committing themselves to a violence-free campaign and conduct of activities for the 2023 General election.
In Oyo state, there was no record of a peace accord at the time of filing this report. And violence has found its way into the polity, particularly the ancient Oyo town.
Monday began crisp and sunny with the rush hour vibes setting out at the business epicentre of the ancient Oyo town in Oyo state.
For most of the city’s constituents, Monday was the opening of business, but for the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), it was the day set aside to flag off the 2023 campaign for elective offices in the town.
No one envisioned that it would be a day of panic, fear and despair when everyone would have to do away with Owode and Oja Akesan areas, the business cornerstone of the town, against their wishes.
The flag-off took place at Oba Lamidi Adeyemi Mini Stadium, Oyo town, which had candidates of the APC in the state and party chieftains, including Senator Musiliu Obanikoro from Lagos state, Immediate Past Deputy Governor of Oyo state, Engineer Rauf Olaniyan, among others.
“Nobody should link us with violence. Our event was successfully done with no case of violence. Security agencies were there from the beginning to the end”, Honourable Akeem Adeyemi told journalists on Wednesday.
He added that the party or their followers did not fight themselves during the flag-off as they respected one another in the town no matter the difference in political affiliation.
Kolade Mumeen (not his real name) told AllNews Nigeria that after the APC flag-off had ended, some members of the suspended National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) clashed with the Park Managers, the new body put in place by Governor Seyi Makinde in the state.
He said the perpetrators were members of the NURTW who had been banished by the state government but decided to attack their colleagues who took their place.
“They attack one another during electioneering seasons like this in the state. The aggrieved would take on those occupying key positions in the transport sector in the state.”
Another source disclosed that the hoodlums acted on the instruction of Honourable Akeem Adeyemi, the member representing the Oyo federal constituency in the Federal House of Representatives.
“We hear there has been a lingering squabble between Skimeh and Fadaka.
"The consequent action was that the boys dealt with the PMS boys acting on his instruction”, the source added.
But Honourable Akeem Adeyemi played down the claims that it was an unfounded insinuation that lacked substance when contacted.
“Someone shouldn’t incite our people against one another,” Adeyemi added, stressing that it is politically impossible for him or his party to instigate violence when they are trying to unseat the incumbent governor and his party in the state.
Through a press release dated November 28, 2022, from the Oyo state Public Relations Officer of the PDP, titled 'Oyo APC, Folarin, Skimeh Deliberately Provoking Our Party By Illegally Replacing Our Billboards With Theirs – Oyo PDP Raises Alarm', the party insinuated that the APC and its stakeholders were behind the attack.
The ruling party alleged that Oyo state APC removed the party’s billboard at Owode/Akesan road in front of Oyo Central Mosque.
The Oyo PDP Spokesperson maintained that the ruling party had secured the billboard space for six months which is to remain valid between October 27, 2022, and April 27, 2023.
“We are very much aware of the grand plan by the Oyo state chapter of the APC not only to instigate unwarranted violence to advance further its campaign of calumny and political blackmail against our government, but we are also fully aware of their plan to provoke PDP into retaliation against their dastardly acts of illegality in the state as 2023 fast approaches.
“Senator Teslim Folarin and his fellow national assembly colleague from Oyo zone, Honourable Akeem Adeyemi, otherwise called Skimeh, are the brains behind this illegality, and they should be arrested and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.
“We want to make it abundantly clear that APC in Oyo state and its agents of violence as led by its arrowhead himself, Senator Folarin must desist from the path it is taking ahead of the political campaign season if truly the opposition party and its guber candidate have no ulterior motive to burn down the state in violence to enable the opposition to succeed in its fictitious, wicked, and demonic campaign against the mandate of the good people of the state.” the statement reads.
To confirm this, AllNews Nigeria interacted with the Special Adviser to APC gubernatorial candidate on media and publicity, Yekin Olaniyi, who maintained that the fracas was staged to mar the success of their campaign rally that went successfully in Oyo town.
“If there is any altercation, it is certainly between the Ilaka boys and the Park Managers. Bisi Ilaka is a senatorial candidate of the PDP, so how does the confrontation concern us?” he queried.
Therefore, he challenged the PDP to come up with facts and names of members of their party who were part of the violence.
Akeem Olatunji is the Public Relations Officer of the PDP in Oyo state. He told AllNews Nigeria when contacted that the fact that some members of the APC believe that he could have swapped PDP billboards to the APC the night before the rally was an ingredient of violence.
Whether or not the response team of the party has been able to finger anyone from the opposition behind the violence, the PRO said the police and the intelligence gathering team were still investigating.
AllNews Nigeria also asked the PRO about the records of the residents he said were killed and injured, the hospitals they were or their homes; he said the case is with the police.
Our reporter toured major hospitals in the town, including the Oyo State General Hospital, Oyo and Peamack Hospital, to enquire if there was any victim in their emergency wards believed to be a casualty of the attack. The response was negative.
“Why would it be that the quarrel had to happen the day of their rally?" the PDP PRO asked repeatedly.
Our reporter put the questions forward to the Police Public spokesperson in the state, SP Adewale Osifeso, on Tuesday, who revealed that the only case before it was the case of defaced posters and billboard destruction.
“Investigation is in progress; you will be updated accordingly”, the PPRO explained.
The actors of the political fracas were political thugs, park managers officials and the members of the defunct NURTW.
At Royal Hotel, Owode roundabout, Oyo, hoodlums attacked some Oyo state park manager members and vandalised cars belonging to them on Monday.
Lives and property were in danger during the attack, while the personal belongings of the officers were also carted away by the hoodlums.
Confirming the incident, Alhaji Hammed Abdulmajeed Olawale, popularly known as Fadaka Akanni Oyo, explained that some Oyo State park manager members were having their time at the hotel when hoodlums broke into the facility and threatened them with several weapons, including machetes.
“The hoodlums in their numbers broke into Royal Hotel and started attacking our members.
"In the process, our members had to run for their lives because they didn’t want anything that would disturb the town's peace.
"They vandalised our cars parked outside the hotel,”
Narrating his ordeal, one of the task force managers at the park, Adamu Obong (not real name), disclosed that he was inside the facility when the invaders arrived and attacked them.
He said, “They vandalised our cars, numbering five and carted away some of our belongings.”
Vehicles vandalised were MICRA FQ226LND, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Picnic FST872FW, Toyota Camry EKY320GU and Toyota Corolla C MUS30FE
Sources told AllNews Nigeria that the officials of the Park Managers played a reprisal game on the initial hoodlums.
Jamiu Aroba was resting when thugs invaded his home in the early hours of Tuesday and attacked him. He said his Toyota Avalon car was bombarded with bullets while his house was also destroyed.
This reporter spotted shreds of bullets inside the compound.
The violence that erupted in Oyo town, which spanned from Monday evening to Tuesday, was between members of the Park Management System, PMS, political thugs and members of the scrapped NURTW in the state.
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