The Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO) has alleged plans by hoodlums used by APM governorship candidate Hon. Bimbo Adekanmbi and his master Governor Seyi Makinde to attack members of the Park Management System (PMS) and others supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State.
The planned attack is part of coordinated efforts to repress opposition and instill fear in APC supporters across the state. It follows series of attacks which led to death of an APC member in Ibadan in October, and dozens of others that have been injured in similar attacks in the last two months, Bisi Oladele
Director of Media & Publicity,Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organization, said in a statement on Sunday.
It added: This came as Senator Sharafadeen Alli’s campaign billboards are being vandalised, and destroyed in some places, by agents of the state government. The evil acts have been going on unchecked as Adekanmbi and Makinde continue to use the instrumentality of government to terrorise opposition members and candidates since election campaign started.
“Based on credible intelligence, the SSACO hereby alerts the public of planned attacks by PMS hoodlums on NURTW members supporting the APC. The attack team is particularly targeting a popular member nicknamed Oyere and his followers. The PMS hoodlums reportedly spied on the APC members at the Senator Alli’s manifesto unveiling event held at Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall last Tuesday, where names of NURTW members, especially those who just joined the APC, were listed and discussed.”
The statement alleged that the development was further inflamed by the large attendance of weekly NURTW meeting chaired by Oyere at his office, which had over hundreds of NURTW members in attendance.
The statement also alleged that at a meeting directed to be convened by a key member of Governor Seyi Makinde’s kitchen cabinet which held around 10pm on Friday, credible intelligence indicated that it was agreed that coordinated attacks be unleashed on NURTW members supporting the APC, with a particular agreement to disrupt their weekly meetings to whittle down the APC support base ahead of the general elections.
The state government is also cracking down on billboard proprietors who rent out their billboards to Senator Alli, thereby sending them out of business. Rather than make Oyo State business-friendly, Governor Makinde’s and his minions are destroying businesses, just to prevent the APC from campaigning freely, it said .
According to the statement, the destruction of the billboards of Senator Alli, who is the governorship candidate of APC in the state by these miscreants is a setback for our progress as a people, and a disincentive to democratic development.
It added: “We understand that the fear of rejection at the ballot is haunting Hon. Adekanmbi and his godfather Governor Makinde. But no amount of intimidation will prevent the good people of Oyo State from voting for Senator Alli and other APC candidates in the 2027 election. Oyo State deserves a breadth of fresh air after seven years of local government paralysis, flip-flopping policies affecting education, health and the overall public service delivery.”
The campaign group advised the Commissioner of Police and other security chiefs to nip this evil plan in the bud on the ground that the state does not deserve violence from a government that took over in a peaceful atmosphere in 2019.
It also alerted people of Oyo State to hold Governor Makinde and Hon. Adekanmbi responsible for any political violence as actions of their supporters now constitute a threat to safety of lives and property in the state.