Gubernatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), in Oyo state, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin has on Thursday urged the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to without delay arrest the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adebayo Adelabu, over the spate of violence that have greeted his (Adelabu), campaign rallies.
Lanlehin made this declaration in a statement signed by Director, Media, Publicity and Protocol of his campaign organisation, Mr. Lanre Ogundipe, a copy which was made available to DAILY POST in Ibadan, the state capital on Thursday.
DAILY POST recalls that no fewer than five political violence have occurred in the last three weeks across the five geopolitical zones of the state. It was gathered that no fewer than two people lost their lives after the campaign rally of the APC gubernatorial candidate, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu went to campaign in Ibarapa geo-political zone of the state during the weekend.
But, the ADC candidate, while condemning the spate of violence recorded during Adelabu’s campaigns, however, urged the police chief to arrest him (Adelabu) without hesitation.
Ogundipe in the statement issued on behalf of his principal, Lanlehin, said that immediate arrest of Adelabu was necessary “for his culpability in the deaths and injury of several persons on his campaign train.”
He said, “We, of the Handshake Campaign Organisation, official handlers of the Senator Olufemi Lanlehin governorship bid, use this medium to call on the Nigeria Police to immediately, forthwith, and without further delay, arrest Mr. Bayo Adelabu, Oyo State APC governorship candidate, over recent killings at his campaign rallies.
“We call on Mr. Mohammed Adamu, Ag. Inspector General of Police (IGP) to order the immediate arrest of Mr. Adelabu, for his culpability in the deaths and injury of several persons on his campaign train.”
“We find it reprehensible, and absurd that in this day and age, Mr. Adelabu saunters about with thugs, armed to the teeth, with sophisticated weapons, whose stock in trade is killing, maiming and harassment of innocent residents of the state.
“If a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate could be arrested, detained and even charged for murder of a person from Oyo town, why should APC’s Adelabu continue to enjoy immunity, when it is obvious he’s been instructing his killer squad to engage in killing spree in the presence of policemen?”
“We are alarmed that in this period of serious security breach all over the country, Adelabu’s killer squad moves about with sophisticated weapons worth millions of naira, that even the Nigerian Army cannot boast of.
“We consider it even more expedient for the Police authorities to probe the licences to import illegal weapons for unlicensed, untrained killer squad members, suspected of having links with Boko Haram.
“As a mark of honour to the dead, injured and battered, we call on all mosques and churches in Oyo State to pray fervently on Friday and Sunday, for the repose of the souls of the dead, felled by Bayo Adelabu’s killer squad in the prime of their lives, and for the speedy recovery of the badly injured. The best payment for Adelabu’s deadly transactions in the coming polls, is his rejection, and by extension, that of his party. Our people deserve life, not death”.
Adelabu while reacting to ADC candidate’s allegations, said that it is on record that he has run the most organised campaign out of all the candidates for this year’s election, saying that it is wicked for anyone to link him directly or indirectly to the death of those who lost their lives during the weekend.
Adelabu in a statement signed by the spokesman of Friends of Bayo Adelabu (FOBA), Dr. Bayo Busari while insisting that he (Adelabu) was the target of the attack, however, called on the police high command to carry out diligent investigation into the incident at Igbo Ora, the attack on Engr. Oluseyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) at Ojoo area of Ibadan and the stoning of our candidate’s campaign train at Moniya on Monday.
Busari said, “Our attention has been drawn to a spurious request by ‘Handshake Campaign Organisation’ on behalf of the gubernatorial candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Olufemi Lanlehin calling for the immediate arrest of Chief Adebayo Adelabu over the unfortunate incident that took place on Saturday, March 2, 2019 during a campaign rally at Igbo Ora.
“While we don’t consider it appropriate to trade words over the loss of innocent lives, we consider it expedient to put the record straight in order not to allow some opportunistic politicians, desperate for votes, to take undue advantage of. The incident at Igbo Ora was not the making of Chief Adelabu and it is wicked for anyone to link him directly or indirectly to the death of those who lost their lives.
“From every indication, Chief Adelabu was the target of attack by those who orchestrated the unfortunate incident, which left several members of APC sustaining various degrees of injury. But for providence two assailants who made spirited attempt to harm Chief Adelabu would have succeeded and if they had, only God knows what those calling for his arrest would be saying now.
“How would Chief Adelabu as the chairman of Oyo State Security Trust Fund and who has invested his resources, energy and time to ensure that the state enjoys peace in the last two years turn around to promote violence? It is on record that the APC gubernatorial hopeful has run the most organised, most visible and most robust campaign out of all the candidates for this year’s election.
“We seize this opportunity to call on the Police high command to carry out diligent investigation into the incident at Igbo Ora, the attack on Engr. Oluseyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) at Ojoo area of Ibadan and the stoning of our candidate’s campaign train at Moniya on Monday. We call on the ADC and its co-travelers to look elsewhere for the justification of their imminent failure in the March 2 gubernatorial election in Oyo State”.
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