Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
Ahead of the Osun State governorship election rerun in four local government areas, on Thursday, the people of the
communities in Orolu Local Government Area, on Wednesday, raised the alarm that thugs loyal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) had been harassing and intimidating them in order to compel them to vote for the party against their will.
Orolu is one of the four local government areas where the election will be held and the people of the community are worried that their communities have come under attack and intimidation.
Coordinator of Concerned Ifon Orolu Patriots, Jide Akinyooye, who spoke on behalf of the group, while addressing newsmen, in Osogbo, the state capital, alleged that a few identified local political thugs yesterday invaded Orolu community in Ifon and harassed the people.
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He added that they took over the streets with guns and other dangerous weapons and ammunition to harass the PDP members in the community.
Akinyooye also expressed worries that not only did the thugs openly harass some people, they also attacked the residence of one of the community leaders and PDP chieftain, Alhaji Ashifat Olarinde where they also harassed the people in the house.
He said that with the ongoing intimidation, the people of the community, especially the PDP members were currently living under threat and worried that peace in the areas in which the rerun would be held tomorrow was not guaranteed.
Akinyooye also alleged that, “Some greedy politicians have strategically recruited some fake soldiers to disrupt the rerun election with a view to suppressing people’s wish.
“Therefore, we are calling on the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police to rise up to the situation.”
While calling for adequate security before, during and after the rerun, the group also urged the Federal Government to “Condemn this immoral harassment of our people and act in the interest of democracy and good governance.”
The group has also petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, over the development and urged him to come to the rescue of the people of the community.
In the petition letter titled: ‘Formal Complaint and Petition on Intimidation, Harassment of PDP Members and Disruption of Public Peace by Political Thugs in Orolu Local Government, Ifon, Osun State’ the members of the group said: “We are calling on your authority to give necessary deserved attention to save lives and property of our people vis-à-vis the integrity of our security agencies.”
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The APC has however denied knowledge of the development, saying that the people didn’t know what they were talking about.
The party’s spokesman, Kunle Oyatomi, who stated this in a chat with Daily Sun, said, “APC does not harbour thugs. What APC has are leaders. In Orolu, Ifon, we have a leader in the person of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Lasun Yusuff.
“So, we don’t deploy thugs in APC and we don’t know fake soldiers” he said.
“We want to conduct ourselves peacefully during the election tomorrow that would attract the commendation of everybody and the international community,” he added.