Ondo Gov planning to unleash violence during poll, group alleges, asks int’l community to intervene

Comrade Sidi Amure – Owo

 A group, Democracy Watch, has called on the international community to monitor the alleged moves by the governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), to unleash terror on the people of the state in order to win the October 10 governorship election in the state by all means.

This was just as it asked the international community to note the involvement of the Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, in the saga.

Already, the group  alleged, the governor had turned the official quarters of his aide de camp (ADC) in the Government House, Mr. Tunji Alapinni (jnr), into an armoury, with over 500 pump action guns being distributed to the political thugs supervised by the officer. 

In a statement released in Owo, Ondo State on Thursday, Democracy Watch coordinator,  Comrade Sidi Amure, alleged that the said guns were procured using one Fatai Lawal, adding that Akeredolu’s ADC in conjunction with one CSP Samuel Ware and his Senior Special Assistant on Security, Jimoh Dojumo, had been distributing the weapons to political thugs across the state.

The group said it decided to raise the alarm because most of the killings being perpetrated by these thugs were not being investigated by the police.

It added that the state Commissioner of Police had been allegedly boasting that Governor Akeredolu had already secured his stay in the state and that he would not be transferred out of the state during the governorship election.

According to the statement, “Recently, a boy sucking on his mother’s breasts was killed in Owo by the sporadic gunshots of the thugs but up till date, nothing has been done to bring the perpetrators to book. 

“Of late, too, one Taye in Idanre seen wearing ZLP cap was killed but up till now, no one has been arrested. Rather, those who visited the police station to lodge a complaint were detained and paraded as thugs.

“The perpetrators of this ugly spate of violence are also working with the governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who is already drafting Amotekun operatives from Ekiti State into Ondo State in order to complement the home force. 

“One Amitolu Shittu from Osun is also said to be part of the plot, while one Jibola Famurewa, a senatorial aspirant during the last election who  is now in charge of SUBEB in Osun, is to coordinate the borderline between Osun and Ondo. 

“The governor is desperate because he knows that he faces imminent defeat because of his abysmal performance in office. His administration is also riddled with corruption; the N4.3 billion kept in an account by the Olusegun Agagu administration which had accrued billions in interest has not been accounted for, and neither has his son’s involvement in the mismanagement of the said sum probed.”

The  group added that it decided to speak out because it did not want Ondo State turned into a theatre of war. 

It urged the international community to take action against the advocates  and perpetrators of violence, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, should act on the several petitions forwarded to them.