A popular leader of the Oyo State Park Management has been alleged to have led a horde of hoodlums to Ward 12, Polling Units 5 and 6 at the Aliiwo area of Ibadan where the ongoing membership revalidation/registration exercise of the All Progressives Congress was disrupted.
Our correspondent gathered that the alleged invasion of the polling units by the union leader caused a commotion that led to the temporary stoppage of the exercise on Tuesday.
The Publicity Secretary of the APC in the state, Dr Abdulazeez Olatunde, when contacted by our correspondent on Wednesday confirmed the incident.
He said such an act of hooliganism should be expected when the governance of the state had allegedly been taken over by “persons hobnobbing publicly with certified hoodlums”.
Olatunde said, ” It is a sad development that such is happening in a state like Oyo State. Our registration exercise was disrupted. He led hoodlums to distrust the exercise and one begin to wonder if there is any correlation between our exercise and park management system.
“But such should be expected when the seat of government is taken over by persons who publicly hobnob with certified hoodlums. The seat that mercurial Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Bola Ige, Lam Adesina, and Senator Abiola Ajimobi occupied.
” What happened is a reflection of what is happening in the state. Nobody is safe, hoodlums have taken over everywhere. Security has collapsed and everything is turned upside down.”
But the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Mr Akeem Olatunji, when contacted exonerated the ruling party from the disruption of the APC registration exercise.
He said the APC should look inward to find those responsible for the disruption rather than blaming the government and the ruling party for it.
He said, ” There are many factions within their party and the internal wrangling there is very obvious. Some of their leaders are known trouble makers and some of them who were with us were known for causing crisis when they were here.
“Now that they have left us, the PDP is now peaceful. We are a party of responsible people. Let the APC look inward to find those responsible for the incident. We have no hand in their woes.”
