While the residents of Oke Ado were still counting their losses, the train of violence moved to the popular Born Photo area on Sunday. The attackers came with rifles, machetes, bottles and other dangerous weapons. Residents had to flee for their lives. Properties worth millions of naira were destroyed in the melee. Cars, tricycles and motorcycles were set ablaze. The family compound of the former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja was one of the houses affected.
The train of horror moved again and on Monday, it was the turn of the popular Ayeye area. There too, properties were destroyed.
While police investigation is still on, tongues have continued to wag as to what caused the trouble and why it has moved from one spot to the other all within the Ibadan North West/ South West Federal Constituency (which is made up of Ibadan South West and Ibadan North West Local Governments).
Allegations have been made that the Ayeye disorder was orchestrated by Alhaji Sharafadeen Alao, the Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ibadan North West Local Government. It was alleged that those who destroyed properties in the neigbourhood screamed at the top of their voices that they were sent by Alao.
When The Anchor met Alao, who has been a member of the PDP since 2002, not only did he deny knowing anything about the violence that shook Ayeye, he also stated that some bigwigs in the APC are out to frame him up. “I don’t know anything about what happened in Ayeye. We held our Ward Congress on that Monday and nobody can claim to have seen me around Ayeye that day. I didn’t go there until Tuesday morning. If there is anyone that saw me in Ayeye, let the person come out and say so.”
On why his name was mentioned, Alao said “it is political. I am a PDP member and what determines whether politicians from other parties will reckon with you is how strong you are. They will want to have a rapport with you, not about destroying properties but to find ways of solving issues. I am the Mogaji of a compound, how will I now go and bring thugs to come and destroy people’s properties in the neighbourhood? Can’t you see someone is out to ruin my reputation? Even my wife’s shop was broken into, her generator was taken away.”
When Alao was asked about his relationship with members of other parties in his local government, his response was “we have members of Labour Party, APC and others but we never fight ourselves because we may belong to different parties, some of us are members of the same families. And I am not the type of person that will destroy his future because of a position he is occupying today.”
Still speaking on the Ayeye issue, he went on to say “It is sad that those who took SURE P loans to set up businesses had their means of livelihood destroyed overnight. All I can do is to appeal to them to stop the blackmail and to stop playing politics with bitterness. I am a man of honour, I don’t believe in that type of politics.”
But what could have caused the problem? “I was beside my wife in my house at Arapaja when they called me around 19 minutes past 12 that some people were fighting. I couldn’t leave my house so I just advised them that they should stay indoors. Those who called me said they could not stay indoors because the attackers were many. They are just trying to frame me up. I was not there,” Alao said.
Our reporter probed further by asking why it was only Alhaji Alao’s name that came up and not any of the Youth Leaders of the other political parties in the local government? His reply was “I don’t know if I have offended them in any way because I have spent more than 25 years in that market. I grew up there. You can ask from anyone there. A lot of people will testify that I don’t have any questionable trait. I was with the Babaloja of Oyo State, Alhaji Dauda Adisa, our Vice Chairman too knows me well. I am not a bad person. Okay, let me ask, is it possible for a thief to become the Mogaji of a family compound? The Ibadan chieftaincy structure is so organized that they will carry out their findings about you before the Olubadan will issue you a certificate as Mogaji.”
Though Alao admitted that as a PDP member, he had no disagreement with anybody, he however noted that on December 18, 2013, members of the Success Youth Forum, on the platform of the PDP held a rally in the local government. “We started at our last ward in Eleyele and we went to Ward 1 in Ayeye. The following day, our names were out in the papers that we held a rally and insulted Governor Abiola Ajimobi and we made our point clear that we did not insult anybody”, he said.
While giving some explanation into the situation, the Auditor of the PDP in Ibadan North West Local Government, Comrade Rasheed Ajanaku said “most of the voters in Ibadan North West Local Government are people in the market. The Youth Leader is a leader in the market where he is. If he tells the market people that look, this is the way way we are going, they will follow. It is the same in Ogunpa where I am. So, trhe truth is that those behind the mayhem are people trying to frustrate us into joining them. We have however made it clear to them that we are in the PDP for good”.
Speaking further, Ajanaku, who is the Chairman of the Success Youth Forum alleged that three days after the December rally, “I heard that Governor Ajimobi called the Caretaker Chairman of our Local Government, Hon Wasiu Olatubosun and Dr. Busari Adebisi, the SUBEB Chairman and told them that ‘I thought you said PDP was no longer in existence in Ibadan North West. How come an ordinary group held a rally and they were able to pull that much crowd?’. It was then we were informed that my name, that of the Youth Leader and that of the Vice Chairman of the party in Ibadan North West, Saheed Akintunde had been tabled before the Governor. I heard the Governor told them that ‘if you can’t buy them over into the APC, find a way of putting them into trouble’. But thank God, the type of people we are, we don’t stay out late, by 8 or 9 pm latest, we are home and we have not done anything that could be said to be against the law. On the one that happened in Ayeye, I can tell you 100% that they are just trying to frame us up. Let them name just one person that can lay claim to seeing the Youth Leader there. Even if they pay someone to do it, God, the ultimate judge is up there looking at all of us”.
Continuing, he pointed out that “I heard the thugs were shouting that it was somebody that sent them, I will call that a political gunshot. The man we are talking about here is the Mogaji of a compound. How will such a person now bring robbers to come and spoil things in his neighbourhood?”, he queried.
“We can only appeal to them to let us be. As the Chairman of the Success Youth Forum, I ereceived death threats vis text messages and calls. There was a particular message that “if you don’t join APC we will kill you, they have paid for your life’. It got to a stage that whenever they called, I would curse them. I told one of them that look at how your party has made life miserable for people. Afterall PDP has ruled in this state before”, he said.
Ajanaku also mentioned names, he said “I can say this anywhere,they have sent the SA Political and the North West Local Government Chairman of the APC to come and talk to us to join them but we declined. I think that is why they are trying to frustrate us. Maybe they feel that if they frustrate us to a certain point, we will give in. But we cannot join their party. Look at them now, they had a rally in Oke Ado, a policeman was killed, they went to Akinyele, people died. They are the ones formenting trouble everywhere. Or have you heard anywhere that PDP members fought somewhere?”
While speaking to the Anchor, the Ibadan North PDP Vice Chairman, Hon Saheed Akintunde too appealed to the Chairman of the Local Government, Mr. Wasiu Olatubosunand Hon Remi Sadiq, the Chairman of the APC in Ibadan North West. “They have threatrened us enough. What we heard is that they have instructed some people to kidnap us. Their government is on its way out. If they have done well, they will see it, if they have not done well, they will see it. We are politicians, we don’t use cutlasses or guns, we believe in voting. So, we appeal to them to leave us. We are in PDP, we cannot join any other party. ”
While faulting the approach of the APC, Alao raised an issue as he said “does it even add up? That thieves went to rob somewhere and were shouting Alao lo ni ka wa ba yin o (it was Alao that said we should come and attack you). It is not possible. God has blessed me, what else do I want?. They are just trying to frame us up and force us to join the APC but even if they want us to join APC, there are other ways of doing it. Afterall I have APC members in my family. My cousin, Wasiu is a member of the APC, we don’t fight, my elder brother, Tiri is in Apete, he is an Accord Party member and that does not stop us from attending family meetings together. My stepbrother, Taiwo is in Labour Party and we are never bitter towards each other. There is somebody called KK, he is at the forefront of this issue. He was the one shouting that I was responsible for the attack in Ayeye but people disagreed with him. Even my wife nearly tore his clothes.”
On his relationship with Hon Olatubosun, Alao said “our father’s houses are not far from each other. Well, he is a Local Government Chairman today, maybe he has forgotten that one day, his tenure will end. He is using his power arbitrarily. Imagine him saying I led people to break shops .”
Offering a word of advice, Alao said “if you want somebody to join your party, that is not the right way to do it. Its just like when you see a lady you like and you approach her. You will toast her, you can say you own Koko Dome and the Broking House, it is the same with politics. You toast people to join your party.”
Hon Akintunde too accused the Chairman of ordering people to attack PDP members. “When people go to collect their voters’ cards, once they hear they are PDP members, they would not allow them to collect the cards. There was a day we went to the council, myself, the Youth Leader and the Auditor, as we alighted from the car, they started stoning us. Meanwhile what happened was that they were trying to manipulate the registration exercise.”
Ajanaku also alleged that “there is something they also do now, when you collect your voter’s card, they will offer you N 500 and ask you to give it to them for a few minutes. They will copy the serial number and go and delete it from the system before returning your card”.
Alao who said he is being watched everywhere he goes said “we are just appealing to them, our lives are in their hands. If anything happens, they should be held responsible. They should not kill us because of politics.” Our reporter reminded him that in politics there are no permanent enemies and asked if he sees himself becoming an APC member in the future, he snapped his finger over his head and said “for more than three years, our party has been out of power and we have coped well”. Ajanaku shared the same opinion as he said “we prefer to align with the party at the centre, we cannot be in opposition. There is nothing that can take us to APC”.
A message sent to Dr. Adebisi, the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) had not been replied as of the time of filing this report. Hon. Wasiu Olatubosun was not on seat when The Anchor called at his office.
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