One killed, several injured during Oyo APC, PDP campaign rallies

Forty-eight hours after the convoy of the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo State, Seyi Makinde was attacked in the Ojoo area of Ibadan, in which one person was injured and a vehicle was damaged, the ruling All Progressives Congress lost one of its supporters in Igboora, Ibarapaland, on Saturday.

Our correspondent gathered that armed thugs laid an ambush for Makinde and his team, who were returning from Oyo after their campaign in the town.

Similarly, gunmen struck at the APC rally around 5.30pm on Saturday when the campaign was reportedly at its peak, leaving a motorcycle mechanic in the area and a supporter of the party lying in a pool of his blood.

The APC spokesman in the state, Dr AbdulAzeez Olatunde, accused the PDP of attempting to kill its gubernatorial candidate, Mr Bayo Adelabu, whom he claimed narrowly escaped the attack.

Olatunde said, “The untoward event occurred after the APC gubernatorial hopeful, Bayo Adelabu, finished addressing the crowd of supporters, who were apparently in an upbeat mood to receive him and his campaign train in the sleepy town.

“Shortly after the address by the duo of the Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, and the party’s governorship candidate, some stern looking PDP hatchet men made to attack the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Bayo Adelabu, by wielding dangerous weapons as they advanced to his direction.”

He said it took the quick response of security men to hurriedly whisk Adelabu away to the nearest vehicle for protection.

Makinde had earlier through his Director of Media and Publicity, Prince Dotun Oyelade, called on the state Commissioner of Police and the Director of the Department of State Services to, as a matter of urgency, summon an emergency meeting of leaders of all political parties on the current tense security situation in the state.

Makinde stated, “Security chiefs must take my advice seriously because thugs of the government and its party, the APC, are getting bolder, more desperate and audacious with each passing day, having realised that electoral defeat is imminent.”

He cited an allegedly unprovoked attack on his entourage at Ojoo in the Akinyele Local Government Area of the state three days earlier and other previous attacks on the opposition to buttress his point.

“What is more worrisome is the threat of attacks on harmless supporters, who are not necessarily card-carrying members of our party, but who simply want a change and better governance,” he added.