Ondo APC Chair Overwhelmed As Occasion Assembly Erupts In Chaos

A pre-congress stakeholders’ assembly of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State turned violent on Tuesday as suspected thugs invaded the occasion secretariat in Akure, leaving many injured and the state chairman and a commissioner crushed.

The incident occurred lower than 24 hours earlier than the nationwide ward congress scheduled to be held throughout 203 wards within the state.

An eyewitness, Yetunde Adeyanju, stated the attackers, armed with harmful weapons, shouted that they had been from Aiyedatiwa and claimed, “We don’t need congress in Ondo State. The governor is in cost. The governor is the chief of the state, and the governor is in cost.

“No one can question the authority of the governor, and anyone who needs to speak about congress in Ondo State will probably be assassinated. When you speak about congress in Ondo State, you’ll be assassinated.”

One other eyewitness confirmed that a number of occasion leaders, together with the state chairman, Mr Ade Adetimehin, a commissioner on the board of the Niger Delta Improvement Fee, Mr Otito Atikase, and former Commissioner for Sports, Mr Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, had been crushed. These injured had been rushed to hospitals for remedy.

Adetimehin corroborated the assault, alleging that the thugs had been sponsored to disrupt the assembly.

“Thirty minutes later, the place was invaded by thugs, with cutlasses and different harmful weapons. They beat all leaders and members, besides those that are for them.

“They beat me and dragged me on the ground; they took away my two telephones, cash, and wristwatch,” he stated.

The Commissioner for Data, Mr Idowu Ajanaku, nevertheless, denied any involvement of the governor, describing the allegation as “unfounded, false and deceptive.”

In a press release, he stated, “The governor was neither conscious of nor linked to the stated assembly and couldn’t have sanctioned any act of thuggery. His management displays a robust aversion to violence and political intimidation in any kind.”

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Abayomi Jimoh, stated the state of affairs had been introduced underneath management.

“The police command obtained a misery name, and we instantly swung into motion, deploying operatives to the APC state secretariat.

“Efforts of those operatives restored calmness to the realm,” he stated, including that tactical groups had been deployed and investigations had been ongoing.