Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, the Osun State chapter of the All Congress Progressives (APC) and the Imole Campaign Council (TICC) have condemned the killing of a 14-year-old boy, Ezekiel Olapade, during a violent attack in Ilobu, Irepodun Local Government Area of Osun State, calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the suspect.
The Imole Campaign Council (TICC) on Monday described the incident as a tragic consequence of rising political violence in the state, urging security agencies to take decisive action against those responsible.
Addressing a press conference in Osogbo, the Director-General of the council, Senator Kamarudeen Olalere Oyewumi, alleged that the attack was carried out by a gang led by Saheed Kareem, popularly known as Tanfeani.
He added that residents reported the assailants had earlier invaded the Irepodun Local Government Secretariat and attacked facilities within the premises, including the office of the Amotekun Corps.
Oyewumi called on Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu to order the immediate arrest and prosecution of everyone connected with the killing and to launch a comprehensive investigation into reported cases of political violence across the state.
The campaign council also expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership of the Osun State Police Command, alleging that repeated incidents of violence had weakened public confidence in the command’s ability to tackle political crimes effectively.
Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that the incident was a display of the highest level of wickedness, noting that it was horrific for anyone to cut short the life of such a promising teenager for any reason.
In a statement signed by the APC Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, the party called on the state police command to investigate the callous killing of the teenager with a view to bringing to justice whoever might be directly or remotely connected to the extrajudicial killing.
The party stated, “We commiserate with the parents and the entire Ilobu community over the needless and wicked killing of their son, and we pray fervently to God to grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable, sudden loss of their son.”
“We are also using this platform to appeal to and warn disgruntled elements in society who might be using political cover to perpetrate violence on innocent members of the public to henceforth desist from doing so. Such actions are neither the hallmark of our political party nor that of our governorship candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO), whose passion for a peaceful approach to issues is inexhaustible.”
“We want to state without mincing words that our governorship candidate, Asiwaju Oyebamiji, does not believe in violence. He has never sponsored and will never sponsor violence against any individual or group, as it is his belief that the political ambition of any individual is not worth the blood of any person.”
However, Governor Ademola Adeleke lamented the killing, calling the incident another bitter example of the complicity of the state police command in the orchestrated political violence in parts of the state.
In a condolence message over the killing, which was allegedly perpetrated openly by a political thug of the Osun APC and carried out in an AMBO-branded Sienna bus, Governor Adeleke condoled with the family of the victim and called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the identified thugs.
Expressing shock over the increasing complicity of the police in Osun’s political violence, Governor Adeleke questioned the refusal of the police to stop the killing of the teenager and tasked the state police command with arresting Saheed Tanfeani, who allegedly led the operation.
“This killing is the worst example of police complicity. This re-confirms a pattern of police indulgence of Osun APC political thugs who move around towns with guns and fire regular gunshots into the air. It is alarming that a police command watches as political thugs invade, attack, and harass residents and supporters of the Accord party.”
“The State Police Command is daily demonstrating reprehensible open bias and unacceptable partisan support for the Osun APC. There are even reports that some police officials accompany AMBO thugs in their daily operations. We have made sufficient representations to the Inspector General of Police and the Presidency.”
“Our administration has filed several petitions with relevant security establishments regarding the impunity and the threats to the peace and security of Osun State. We are again alerting the Presidency and the IGP that the police in Osun State have surrendered to political thugs and are even providing support services to them.”
“Presently, the Osun police command is providing protection to court-sacked APC council chairmen who have just been re-sacked by the Federal High Court in a case they filed. Mobile policemen are deployed to council secretariats to protect court-sacked, tenureless APC operatives, preventing duly elected PDP council chairmen and councillors from accessing the secretariats.”
“This is clearly an abuse of police power in service of illegality. The deployment of mobile policemen to protect those occupying council secretariats illegally is the lowest ebb in the current trampling on our democratic life. A dangerous precedent has been set that will be resisted by our people.”
“We alert Mr. President that our people have been pushed to the wall. The failure of the police to enforce the law can force citizens to resort to self-help. We must respect the rule of law, the electoral act, and the constitution,” the governor added.
Recounting the incident, the victim’s father, Olugbemiga Olapade, alleged that the political thugs, led by Saheed Kareem, arrived in a branded vehicle belonging to one of the gubernatorial candidates in the state on Sunday around 3:00 pm.
He said, “I was at my wife’s shop with my son and some customers when the thugs in an AMBO-branded vehicle arrived. Initially, they attempted to enter the council, but when they saw a man wearing a yellow cap at my wife’s shop, they directed their gunfire at the shop. The man wearing the yellow cap was shot, and he is now at the hospital. Everyone at the scene, including my wife and son, ran for safety.”
“But my wife fell, and my son had to go back to rescue her. It was during that process that he was shot. I did not even know that he had been shot. I thought he ran away like the others, and it was only after searching for him for hours that I got a hint that he had died and his body was inside the bush,” he said.
Confirming the incident, the Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, stated that the command had identified the principal suspect linked to the attack but noted that he had not yet been arrested.