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Election violence claimed its first victim in Ondo State on Wednesday night as a member of the Labour Party (LP), Adeniyi Oyen, was shot dead by thugs suspected to be working for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The incident happened in Akungba-Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area when suspected gunmen attacked the town after the campaign train of LP had just left the town.
A source in the town said the incident happened around 7p.m. after Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his campaign team had just left the town for Iwaro-Oka in the same local government.
According to the eye witness, immediately the governor left the town, gun started booming and people were terrified in the locality.
He said it was one of the gunshots that killed Oyen and injured several others.
The remains of the deceased, he said, has been deposited at the General Hospital, Iwaro-Oka, while the injured persons were receiving treatments in various hospitals across the state.
A member of the House of Assembly, Mr Abiodun Ogunbi, who confirmed the incident, said he could not identify the attackers as he was already in Iwaro-Oka with the governor when the assailants struck.
Ogunbi said somebody told him on phone that LP members had been attacked in the town and that one person was shot while others were injured.
He said he directed them to bring the injured to General Hospital in Iwaro-Oka.
However, he said the man died in the hospital while others who were critically injured had been sent to the Federal Medical Centre, Owo.
The Mimiko Campaign Organisation (MCO) blamed the attack on the opposition ACN.
A statement by MCO spokesman, Kola Olabisi, said several people, who were shot, are now receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo and other undisclosed hospitals in Ikare-Akoko.
Among those injured, he said, included Aregbesola Emmanuel and Akinniyi Ige who were shot in the eyes.
Speaking on the latest development which it traced to the huge success of the rally addressed by Mimiko in Akungba earlier in the day wherein thousands of people turned out to grace the occasion, the MCO warned that the people of the state would not be intimidated by their antics.
Olabisi said the ACN has continuously proven to the world that it harbours a nest of killers and that it is not a party of democrats contrary to its professed mantra of democracy for justice.
Olabisi enjoined the police to ensure that those already arrested in connection with the violence be charged to court immediately to serve as deterrent to others.
His words: “As we are raising this alarm now, all the billboards of Mr Governor all over the state have either been defaced or torn by the opposition party in their desperation to reap where they did not sow. But the supporters of the LP have been told that under no circumstances must they retaliate because their plan is for our people to retaliate so that they can call for a state of emergency or get the poll to be postponed since it has become crystal clear that they cannot win this election any day. On October 20, they will all lose their deposits and meet their waterloo in Ondo State.”
However, the ACN denied the allegation of attacking LP members, saying it was the ruling party members that were fighting over the sharing of the money given to them during the campaigns.
Spokesperson for Independent Campaign Network for Akeredolu Campaign Organisation, Mr Bosun Oladimeji, said members of the party were in Ondo for the Redemption rally when the attack happened in the town.
Oladimeji added that ACN is a peaceful party which does not believe in violence as means of winning election.
A member of the House of Representatives representing Owo/Ose Federal Constituency, Mr Eni Omosule, the Chairman of the State Environmental Task Force, Mr Gbenga Atiba and a Senior Special Assistant to the Ondo State Governor on Direct Labour Agency, Mrs Mobolaji Suara, had on Tuesday evening cheated death by whiskers when they were attacked by a combined team of Peoples Democratic party (PDP) thugs and those of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at Uka area of Owo with guns, axes, cutlasses and clubs.
Speaking on the violence, Mimiko said it would not stop his victory on October 20.
He made the declaration yesterday while addressing the people of Oba-Akoko and Ose-Oba in continuation of his second term electioneering campaign.
According to him, the era of seeking and using unlawful and undemocratic means of winning elections without allowing the people’s votes to count are over in the state.
He said: “Never again shall we witness election brigandage in Ondo State. We know their plans to cause violence and manipulate the already sanitised process. Their plans will certainly fail because Ondo State people are no fools.
“We know their antics. Be wary of their Greek offers, don’t sell your voters cards which is your weapon to chase those who don’t have you in their hearts out of this state.
“Their trade mark is cheap, malicious propaganda and outright falsehood which would not take them anywhere in Ondo State. Our people are not cheap commodity that could be bought cheaply in a market located on the road to economic and political retrogression”.
Mimiko asked them to vote wisely for Labour Party for the continuity of a true progressive-minded administration that makes the peoples welfare the hallmark of its government
