Oyo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress APC has berated Governor Seyi Makinde and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for being allegedly responsible for the fresh wave of political violence in the state saying residents across the nooks and crannies of the state deserved their peace even as they look forward to a post-PDP era from May 29, 2027.
Reports had it that parts of the state were enveloped by tension on Saturday when factions of the ruling party engaged in violence over the purported conduct of another PDP Local Government Area Congress as the development underscored the escalation of an intractable crisis which the umbrella party has been battling with in recent times.
In a statement issued at the weekend and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC regretted that Gov. Makinde chose to adding more to the worries of the people of the state by encouraging threats and violent attacks among his party members even when he has not done anything reasonable to address the challenges of bandit invasion, kidnappings among others.
“The minds of many citizens were cast back to the days of political violence and unrest on Saturday when they witnessed how sponsored thugs and other criminal elements unleashed terror on PDP members who were opposed to the reported high-handedness and egocentric leadership style of Gov. Makinde. They demonstrated this by organizing a separate Ward Congress which was disrupted by some hoodlums as reported in Ibarapa North, Iseyin, Ibadan North East, Ibadan North and many other local government area chapters of the party.
“We recalled that the same set of hoodlums and their now out-of-favour leader, who is currently behind bars on the order of his estranged godfather, were responsible for series of attacks meted out to the leaders and members of the APC during the electioneering period of the last general elections. This time, it was brothers against brothers since a faction must overrun the other in order to control party structures.
“While some sponsored thugs were moving round the venues of the supposed Local Government Area Congress to disrupt the exercise, an army of vicious hoodlums was mobilized and made to visit the Ibadan home of a chieftain of the party where they destroyed many cars and properties which cost was put at several billion of naira as they also inflicted varying degree of injuries on men and women who were believed to be loyal to the Nyesom Wike faction.
“While this development remain condemned, we urge Gov. Makinde to have a rethink and learn to employ dialogue as a potent tool in resolving disputes and not violence or confrontation. However, we use this medium to call on the security agencies to investigate the development with a view to unmasking the attackers and their sponsors as we cannot afford to go back to the era of full scale political war in the hands of the PDP elements in the state.” Sadare added.