The security personnel attached to the deputy governor of Ondo State, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, shot sporadically into the air today to prevent some protesters from stopping him from entering into his official residence located at the government house ground.
Olanusi defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC) before the presidential election held on March 28.
DAILY POST correspondent in Akure, the Ondo State capital reports that as Olanusi was coming from Supare Akoko in Akoko Southwest Local Government, some youths, who were carrying several placards with different inscriptions like ‘Ali Must go’, ‘No way for Olanusi in government house’, ‘Olanusi is a traitor’ and Jasper Ali Must resign’, wanted to prevent his convoy from entering the government house.
The security personnel, attached to the convoy, had to shoot sporadically into the air to scare away the protesters before they could pass through the road leading to the government house. People in the area were reported to have run for cover when they heard the gun shots, thinking it was an armed robbery attack. This made some of the people around to call the military, who cordoned off the area.
As the security men were shooting, some of the protesters were said to have thrown stones, water sachets and eggs at the convoy.
Olanusi, who spoke with reporters at the government house, accused the governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko of using suspected political thugs to harass him on his way to his official residence.
His words: “It is very surprising and shocking that a sitting governor, after conducting election, is still going around with thugs to attack me in the state house. You can see things yourself at the roundabout, the thugs he hired there and at the gate; if I had not come with my convoy, they would have attacked me.
“I will call on the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of this zone, and the Inspector General of Police to protect me more for God’s sake. They should provide me with more mobile policemen to guide me. I am ready to resume duty as the elected deputy governor of Ondo State.
“Nobody has told me to resign. If they are talking about impeachment, they should go about it in a lawful way, not that they should use thugs to attack an elected deputy governor. They should realize that as Mimiko was elected as governor, I, Ali Olabusi was equally elected. He cannot be chasing me with thugs.”
Reacting to the incidence, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Eni Akinsola denied that political thugs were used to harass the Deputy Governor. He said some people were trying to reverse the trend of peace the state has been enjoying in the past six years.
According to him, Olanusi came to town shooting sporadically into the air and it was the aggrieved residents, who had never witnessed such scene in the past years, that protested against the Deputy Governor.
Akinsola said people should accept democracy as a normal way of life, accept when their calculation went wrong and learn how to accept defeat.
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