Some yet to be identified gunmen were said to have attacked the state headquarters of the Accord Party in Osogbo, Osun State, damaging some parts of the building.
During a visit to the secretariat located along the Osogbo/Gbongan road, it was observed that the gate at the entrance to the premises was damaged.
Perforated walls and damaged glass reportedly caused by bullets fired at close range were also observed by our correspondent.
Speaking on Monday on the incident, the deputy spokesperson to Osun State Governor, Oladele Bamiji, accused the All Progressives Congress of sponsoring the attack.
The APC governorship campaign media committee, however, dismissed the allegation, describing it as an orchestrated scenario designed to blackmail the opposition party in the state.
But Bamiji, who said the attackers stormed the secretariat late in the night and perpetrated the crime, alleged that the APC had earlier damaged campaign billboards of the Accord Party across the state.
“We woke up to the alarm raised by security operatives we put here as a party. As you all know, this is the headquarters of the Accord in Osun State, and as we are witnessing in recent days, a surge in political violence, especially from the side of our opponents, the APC, whereby all Accord billboards across the state and anything related to the signal of Accord were destroyed.
“But overnight today (Monday), they still came back, maybe because they felt that people were not deterred enough. So they came to our headquarters, according to the reports we got from the security operatives here, and they started shooting sporadically, directly at the officer complex of our party,” Bamiji said.
Demanding a probe into the incident by the Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Disu, he said a team of police operatives had paid a on-the-spot assessment visit to the scene of the incident.
He further said, “We are calling on the Inspector General of Police, especially not to allow Osun State to be put into chaos. When you have security agencies, especially that of the police, which is in charge of internal security, internal security of lives and property of our people, especially, and the agency appears helpless, then perhaps we have to call on the IG, to perhaps reinforce what we have as police personnel in Osun State.
“Maybe the Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, perhaps is being overwhelmed. Perhaps he needs some level of help. The Commissioner of Police here should be assisted to do his job because in a situation where people’s lives appear like just a tissue paper to the APC, and nothing seems to be done.”
He called for a forensic investigation of the bullet found at the scene of the crime, adding that if “Proper forensic investigation will be conducted, Nigerians will be made to see that actions are being taken by the police and not this rhetoric of writing press releases like a politician.
“The police were here earlier. They were conducted around the premises, and I hope we will get an instant response. The response this time around should be apprehension of those behind such dastardly acts. The police found a bullet, especially the one fired at this very thick gate, and some other bullets they were taking indoors, and I was told they have taken specimens of what they saw around to their office.”
Reacting, a member of the media committee of the APC governorship campaign committee, Kehinde Ayantunji, dismissed the allegations and accused the Accord Party leadership of building up tension, citing internal crisis within the party.
“Regrettably, they are going this route. Osun is known for peace, but God knows what they intend to achieve with these fabricated lies all the time. As far as APC is concerned, we have nothing to do with violence; we don’t encourage it. Over the last year, we have been moving into the nooks and crannies of the state to engage the people who will need their votes.
I think it is high time the police invite them to make a specific statement.
“You are talking about guns, you are talking about shooting, and you make a general allegation against APC. I think the police should invite them to come and really mention names of those people that they suspect, of those people that they think,” Ayantunji said.
