Better Oyo Movement (BOM), a sociopolitical group at the forefront of Oyo State’s development, has condemned in the strongest of terms the reported attack on members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who had rallied on Tuesday, 4 October, 2022 in solidarity with the ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima, their party’s presidential candidate.
Recalling that Alh. Mukaila Lamidi a.k.a. Auxiliary, Chairman Disciplinary Committee of the Park Management System, had in a light green SUV, along 10 other vehicles, intercepted rallying APC members at the Labiran junction enroute Oje, at about 1:20pm, inflicting serious machete cuts on them, the group noted that the senseless and unprovoked attack led to serious injuries and hospitalisations.
In a release in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday, 6 October, 2022, BOM argued that notwithstanding the series of warnings issued to Auxiliary by well-meaning people to desist from formenting trouble, the PMS Chairman, banking on the state sponsor he enjoys, has continually been a thorn in the flesh of peacefully-rallying opposition members, in a bid to do the bidding of the state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, his paymaster.
The group, whose release was signed by Dr. Femi Fakunle and Engr. Tunji Hammed, Chairman and Secretary respectively, lamented what it called Governor Makinde’s unalloyed support for state terrorism, as his failure to call Auxiliary to order terribly advertises, bemoaning what such continued attacks on the opposition, and a possible retaliation, when pushed to the wall, can cause peaceful coexistence in the state.
“We’re worried at the dangerous dimension Auxiliary’s continued attacks on opposition members can take, as if left unchecked, the electioneering process might be seriously undermined. We fear the opposition may be forced to defend themselves, which will not bode well for the state’s security.
“Even more worrisome is the police’s barefaced attempt at twisting the facts of the story, by claiming armed robbery, in a rally that occured in daytime, when the facts were obvious to the blind and audible to the deaf, that the perpetrator and mastermind of the attack was no other person than Alh. Mukaila Lamidi a.k.a. Auxiliary.
“We can only charge the police to be more professional in their duties, diligent in investigation and empathetic in communication. Only by this can the police stay above board, nonpartisan and professional,” the release noted.
BOM then cautioned Auxiliary to note that notwithstanding the cover of state he currently enjoys, the long-arm of the law will always catch up with him at the appropriate time.
