3 killed in Osun, properties destroyed as politicians fight over election funds

Leftover funds from the July 16 governorship election have caused chaos in Ede, the hometown of the Osun Governor-Elect, Ademola Adeleke, with three people killed and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.

The crisis broke on Friday during a meeting held at the party secretariat of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), opposite Ansarudeen Mosque, Ede, over the leftover funds for the last governorship election.

The crisis, according to sources, led to fisticuffs and a Personal Assistant to the minority leader of the House of Assembly, Adewunmi Kofoworola, who was slapped in the process.

Findings showed that the aide to Kofoworola was asked to release the proceeds of the election in his possession, and his refusal to release the same led to the attack on him by the angry members of the party.

Friends of the Kofoworola’s aide were said to have invited the police led by one SP Omoyele, a controversial police officer who was the head of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

It was gathered that Superintendent Omoyele and the aide to the member of the House of Assembly representing Ede North, Kofoworola, went to the home of the PDP chieftain that allegedly slapped the legislator’s aide to arrest him.

It was further learnt that violence erupted in the process and this led to the killing of two persons including a staunch member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who happens to be a son of the PDP chieftain.

However, APC members in the town took the incident as deliberate, saying their member was killed for his refusal to work for the PDP in the election.

Sources said, “This led to the killing of ‘Kuranga,’ the brother of late notorious thug, Elemo at Atapara. The house of the father of the minority leader of the House of Assembly, Kofoworola, was razed by the angry APC members on Saturday and the whole town was enveloped by violence.

The spokesperson of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Atanda Olabisi, said the intelligence report available to the command said that the culprits and the victims have been taken to the police command.

She said the police spokesperson would explain the details because they are in charge of the matter.

Calls made to the phone of the spokesperson of the Osun police command, Yemisi Opalola, were not successful.

Osun Governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, accused Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of plotting to destabilize the state.

A statement by the spokesperson to the Governor-Elect, Olawale Rasheed, alleged that the attack on the father of Kofoworola was to start conflict and engulf the whole state ahead of the transition exercise.

“I urge security agencies to swing into action and bring to book perpetrators of that dastardly attack on an innocent senior citizen whose only sin may be that his son is the PDP’s minority leader in Osun State House of Assembly. Acts of violence must stop as the election is not war.

“I appeal to the political class in Osun state particularly Governor Oyetola to be mindful of the harsh socio-economic condition of our people at the grassroots. We should respect their choice of leadership. It is immoral to further complicate the prevailing hardship with mindless politically motivated violence,” the statement added. (The Sun)