Suspected hoodlums have attacked a campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party in Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday, reportedly injuring some members of the party.
The opposition party in the state had staged a rally from their secretariat in the Oke-Ado area of Ibadan and members were moving towards the Oje area when some hoodlums in some vehicles allegedly launched an attack on them.
The APC had organised the rally to drum up support for its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; the state governorship candidate, Senator Teslim Folarin, and other candidates in the state.
Some of the supporters were said to have been injured during the attack, which was blamed on the Chairman, Park Management System (PMS), Alhaji Mukaila Lamidi, aka Auxiliary, and his boys.
The state’s APC 2023 gubernatorial candidate, Senator Folarin, in a statement after the incident, alleged that Governor Seyi Makinde and Auxiliary were behind the attack.
He said Auxiliary attacked the procession from behind aware that the candidates of the party, who were also among the crowd, were at the front.
The statement read in part, “I’ve just been informed that Makinde’s thugs, led by the notorious Auxiliary, have launched coordinated attacks on our members and support groups.
“Auxiliary personally led the attacks at Iyana Labiran en route Oje in Ibadan. As peace-loving and law-abiding citizens, we won’t take the law into our own hands.”
“Not minding the deadly attacks on our members by Makinde’s agents of darkness, we’re continuing our walk for Tinubu /Shettima. The injured members are receiving treatments at an undisclosed hospital.”
However, Auxiliary, when contacted through the Public Relations of the Park Management System, Eniola Jelili, debunked the allegation.
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The PMS official said the allegation was aimed at tarnishing the image of their chairman.
The statement read in part, “The news reaching my desk is that members of the APC in the state that organised a rally and walked across major roads in Ibadan have raised an allegation that they were attacked by Auxiliary and his boys around Labiran.
“The PMS would like to state unequivocally that nothing of such happened and Alhaji Auxiliary was not in Labiran or around the area at that moment.”
