••• Your Thugs are destroying Billboards – Akinterinwa alleges Aiyedatiwa
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo state, has directed security agencies in the state to arrest those who attacked supporters of governorship aspirants and destroyed their campaign billboards during the visit of President Bola Tinubu to the state.
Recall that one of the aspirants, Olusola Oke, raised alarm over the attack of his supporters and those of other aspirants by political thugs who also destroyed their campaign billboards during the visit.
In a swift reaction, the state governor, through his Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, in a statement in Akure, cautioned against political violence in the state.
Adeniyan, in the statement, said that “the attention of Ondo State Governor, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, has been drawn to reports of alleged attacks on some persons and destruction of campaign materials in the wake of the visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the State on Wednesday.
“The Governor says his administration will not tolerate any form of violence that is capable of threatening the peace and tranquility of the State.
“As the Governor has said repeatedly, any political campaign that disturbs the peace in the State is unacceptable and must be met with the decisive actions of law enforcement agencies.
“It is pertinent to make it clear that nobody associated with the Governor or the government of Ondo State was involved in any of the reported activities ascribed to “political thugs” during the President’s visit to Owo and Akure.
“The Governor has therefore asked law enforcement agencies in the State to arrest and prosecute anyone found to be engaged in such violent activities.
Adeniyan added that “The Governor urges politicians and their followers to ensure that their campaigns are issue based, devoid of blackmail, spreading falsehood, inciting the public and intimidating opponents.
Akinterinwa accuses Aiyedatiwa of returning thuggery to politics
Immediate past Ondo Commissioner for Finance Wale Akinterinwa has decried what he called the return of thuggery to the political space in the State.
Akinterinwa, who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), alleged the thugs also attacked citizens who came out to welcome President Bola Tinubu to the state.
Akinterinwa who spoke in a statement by spokesman of his Campaign Structure, Segun Ajiboye, alleged the thugs were sponsored by Governor Lucky Ayedatiwa.
According to him : “The thugs, fully loaded in unmarked vehicles, did not in any way hide their devilish intentions, as they went round major streets of Akure, destroying the bill boards of the other gubernatorial aspirants of the All Progressives Congress.
“The thugs fully armed with different types of guns, shot sporadically into the air to create fears in the people.
“Expectedly, thousands of supporters of the APC who had prepared to receive the president ran helter-skelter for dear lives.
“The ugly incident was coming barely 24 hours after the Wale Akinterinwa Campaign Structure raised the alarm about the dastardly activities by certain element acting for and on behalf of Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa to prevent members of the APC and leaders who are not in his camp to receive Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR during his visit to Akure.
“Today’s action by the thugs acting on the directives of Mr Governor is most undemocratic, disrespectful, unreasonable and disdainful attempt by any Chief executive in the anals of democracy in Nigeria.
“This is a sad reminder of the wicked old days in the politics of our dear state. It marks an avoidable return to the dark days of hooligans and political bandits in Ondo state.”
But Chief Press Secretary to Governor Aiyedatiwa, Ebenezer Adeniyan, said nobody associated with the Governor would destroy bill boards or attack innocent citizens.
“That is not true. I do not know where they got the information from,” he said.
