Top Line
Sunday, 23 November 2014
OYO APC is blood thirsty - PDP , Accord , Labour
Ibadan violence: You lied, PDP, Accord, LP tell APC
23.Nov.2014 DISQUS_COMMENTS Stephen Gbadamosi And Moses Alao
•Say opposition not responsible for its woes •Thugs used new pump action rifles —Source
The Oyo State chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Accord Party (AP) and Labour Party (LP) have lambasted the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) for blaming Friday’s violence reportedly orchestrated by APC hoodlums, which led to the death of a police officer and caused injuries to many others, on the opposition in the state, saying that the ruling party had always been “violent and oppressive” and that “it is only a matter of time before its pretence about being peace-loving is blown.”
In a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Honourable Kehinde Salawu, the PDP urged the APC to face the reality on the ground that it “has become a party of war-mongers ahead of the 2015 general election” and stop making baseless insinuations about the opposition being responsible for its woes in the state.
The PDP said the opposition knew nothing about the violence, noting that it was the responsibility of the APC to rein in its thugs and not put the lives of innocent Oyo State indigenes in danger.
In a similar statement, Prince Dotun Oyelade of the Accord Party called for a high-powered investigation into the violence, saying that “for a party that brandishes peaceful reign as its cardinal achievement in four years, the unprovoked killing of policemen and random shooting by hired thugs barely 12 weeks before the next election is a danger sign that must be stopped.”
The Accord Party also decried as awful and insensitive, the reported trip to the United Kingdom by Governor Abiola Ajimobi just hours after the state capital was thrown into panic by his party members, saying: “Under no circumstance should the Chief Security Officer of the state abdicate his major role and go on a leisure cruise abroad while Ibadan was literally burning.
“With the top echelon of the APC threatening unimaginable violence and parallel government if they fail to win at the centre,” the statement said, it is little wonder that the party at the state level is gearing up to foist more violence, if this attack is swept under the carpet.
The LP, in a statement signed by its state Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Taiwo Ibrahim, described the violence as “barbaric, uncivilised and reckless of a party that has been boasting of maintaining peace and order in the state,” stressing that violent clashes were unbecoming of the APC, and that in recent times, intra-party rivalry leading to acts of brigandage and thuggery have become the order of the day.
“In the last few days, rival groups within the same party have been subjecting the state to terror, leading to the death of innocent citizens. Only last week, two of its lawmakers were alleged to have brought such untold hardship to the people as a result of their thuggery.
“And last Friday, their principal, Senator Abiola Ajimobi’s jamboree baptised the state with another pool of blood,” Ibrahim said.
The LP added that the people should be watchful, “as we approach the 2015 elections,” calling on well-meaning people of the state to call the APC to order “before the party finally sets the state on fire.
“We sympathise with the innocent citizens, including police officers who were only doing their duties, who lost their lives as a result of the brigandage,” the LP stated.
Meanwhile, aftermath the killing of an Inspector of Police attached to Iyaganku Division in Oyo State Police Command, and injuring of many others on Friday, Sunday Tribune’s investigation has revealed that the thugs who did the shooting used brand new pump action rifles.
It will be recalled that the use of pump action gun was prohibited in 2011 shortly after the year’s elections and the ban has not been lifted.
A source who craved anonymity and who was one of those on ground at the venue of the incident in Ibadan on Friday, said that the thugs emerged suddenly from Liberty Road and started firing.
According to the source, “we spoke with the secretary of the APC on ground at the rally to call the man who was causing trouble to order. He was the one fighting an okada man.
“We just heard gunshots from behind us. The thugs emerged from Liberty Road and aimed at the police.”
The source said that the thugs aimed to disarm the police, as they advanced towards the inspector who fell after he was hit in the head, adding that it was in the process of saving the gun from being taken by the thugs that the Divisional Traffic Officer, Mapo Division, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, was also hit in the head.
Iyaganku Division was reported to have suffered the higher number of casualty of policemen as the two officers in charge of patrol and guard as well as the Station Officer, among others, had bullets extracted from their bodies.
A police corporal from Mapo Division is also on a danger list as he had been bleeding from one of his eyes hit by pellets, another source also said.
Sunday Tribune learnt that the DTO had been taken to a private hospital because of the ongoing strike action at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, and was responding to treatment.