There is the need for security agents to quickly halt the unfolding political thuggery in Osun State, civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the call becomes urgent with the supremacist tussle and the battleline drawn by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; with his successor and governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola; ahead of Saturday’s All Progressives Congress governorship primary in the South-West state.
Aregbesola, Osun State governor from 2010 to 2018, and Oyetola, who is seeking re-election, has been at loggerheads for sometimes over the control of the APC organs in the state. Both politicians belong to the same ruling APC.
Aregbesola had on Monday visited the Ijebu Jesa of Osun State and declared support for former Secretary to the State Government, Moshood Adeoti, in Saturday’s governorship primary, and vowed to give Oyetola the Akinwunmi Ambode treatment – Ambode was ejected out of office as Lagos State governor after just one term in 2019 due to intra-party squabbles.
The minister also declared war against his erstwhile political mentors and associates supporting Oyetola for a re-election including APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu; and ex-Osun governor, Bisi Akande.
Also, the security details in Aregbesola’s convoy were on Monday said to have created panic in Osogbo as heavy shooting rented the air, when the minister was passing through the Old Garage Area of the state capital.
According to reports, the Osun State Police Command and the Oyetola administration said operatives of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Correctional Service and Immigration Service in the convoy of Aregbesola shot without provocation along Old Garage and MDS in Osogbo metropolis, as the convoy passed through the area but the security details also reportedly said they shot to repel an attack on the ex-governor.
Commenting on the development, HURIWA called on the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to mobilise mobile policemen and anti-riot operatives for Saturday’s APC primary in Osun State.
“The Monday shooting is only a precursor to greater danger looming in the state this political season. Security agents must be at alert and rein in on mischief-makers and political thugs no matter whose camp they belong,” HURIWA National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said in the statement.
Onwubiko added, “Political officeholders whether at the state or federal levels must desist from using elections as a show of might and to cause a breach of public peace.
“While HURIWA is not concerned about the rivalry between Aregbesola and Oyetola factions within the APC, it is important to call on the APC leaders at the centre including President Muhammadu Buhari to call Aregbesola, Oyetola and other warring factions to order ahead of Saturday’s governorship primary.
“Politics thrive in the absence of tension, intimidation and threat to life. Members of the APC in Osun should go peacefully to the ballot this Saturday and elect their candidate. Oyetola, Aregbesola and other factional leaders in Osun APC should be made to sign a peace pact before February 19, 2022. Both Oyetola and Aregbesola should be held accountable for any breach of public peace arising from the governorship primary election this Saturday.”