PDP, OYINLOLA’S PACIFICATION OF IJESALAND: A DESCENT TO ANARCHY

Action Congress (AC), Osun State, Nigeria TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY LEADERS OF ACTION CONGRESS (AC) IN IJESALAND (ILESA WEST, ILESA EAST, ATAKUNMOSA WEST, ATAKUNMOSA EAST, ORIADE AND OBOKUN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, OSUN STATE ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2010 IN OSOGBO

The campaign of pacification embarked upon by retired Brigadier-General Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has produced another casualty with the untimely death of Chief Ade Komolafe last week. His death became another avoidable development in Ijesaland where the duo of Oyinlola and the PDP are using state machinery to encourage and sponsor violence to unsettle our motherland.

You will all recall that the late Chief Ade Komolafe, an industrious son of Ijesaland, was visiting home late last year when he was violently attacked by Ibukun Fadipe at a filling station. Fadipe personally coshed the late Chief Ade Komolafe in the head with a blunt object which led to the man’s hospitalisation and eventual death.

Available information showed that Komolafe suffered from head haemorrhage inflicted on him by Ibukun Fadipe during the fracas. Komolafe’s sin was that he had the effrontery to challenge Fadipe for shunting the orderly queue at the filling station to buy fuel. Feeling slighted by Komolafe, Fadipe who is the impostor Chairman of Ilesa West Local Government, went back to gather his thugs and returned to deal with the former DHL boss. The result of that attack is what we now have on our hands; a harvest of deaths.

This was not the only incident. Fadipe is known to enjoy official cover by General Oyinlola for his many crimes particularly those opposed to the Governor. There have been several cases of state sponsored terror against the opposition and even against members of the PDP who disagree with the criminal norm of their party.

A few of them are listed below:

MAY 29, 2005 ATTACK AGAINST AREGBESOLA’S CONVOY IN ILESA: On May 29, 2005, friends of the Governorship Candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Engineer Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola organised a get-together lunch to mark his 48th birthday in Ilesa. As he was going in a convoy of vehicles occupied by his supporters to the ceremony, a known thug, in the employment of Governor Oyinlola and his deputy, Erelu Olusola Obada, Wale Oni, led a gang of dare-devil violent men wielding guns, pick axes and other dangerous weapons to attack harmless persons who attended the ceremony. The thugs destroyed many vehicles, ripped through the bus conveying Aregbesola to the ceremony venue. The intention was to have hacked down Engineer Aregbesola with the pick axe and kill him in the most brutal manner.

Wale Oni, who was later found to be the leader, was arrested and handed over to the police. Surprisingly, he was released on the order of Erelu olusola Obada within hours of his arrest. He was never charged to court by the Police. Since then, not even a whimper has been heard of this again while the suspect has gone on rampage on the streets of Ilesa and the entire Ijesaland, wreaking havoc and doling out lawlessness to anybody who opposes the political interests of his sponsors.

When they could not kill Aregbesola, their target, all men and women who they found in the vehicles were physically assaulted and stripped naked as they asked for Aregbesola’s where about to no avail. Wale Oni has since then become the lord of the manor at his Irojo quarters residence in Ilesa; untouchable, feared, loathed, ruthless and above the law.

SPONSORED ATTACKS ON AREGBESOLA’S BILLBOARDS: Since 2006, all billboards belonging to Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, the governorship candidate of Action Congress (AC) in Osun State have come under direct attack by thugs sponsored by the PDP. The attack began with the one erected at the Gbongan junction under the auspices of FASUP.

Since then, various billboards of Aregbesola have been attacked and destroyed. Specifically, the billboards erected in Ilesa have been deliberately destroyed and defaced under the cover of the night.

Our findings have shown that the destruction of Aregbesola’s Billboards was undertaken by Ibukun Fadipe. Specifically, he was the person who, in February, 2007, was mentioned in a petition written by our party to the Area Commander, Ilesa. He was not even invited for questioning not to talk of being prosecuted.

Gentlemen of the press, you will recall that the billboard erected in front of the Miccom Golf and Hotel Resort, Ada, Osun State was set ablaze by people working for Governor Oyinlola who, in turn, went to shamelessly erect his own billboard on the site beside the destroyed one. No damage was done to his own.

Governor Oyinlola’s intolerance for the opposition became noteworthy in Okuku, his hometown where the billboard erected by Aregbesola was viciously uprooted and allegedly removed to the home of a relation of the Governor and PDP chieftain, Prince “Power” Oyinlola.

AUGUST 6, 20O6: IBUKUN FADIPE AND WALE ONI’S SHOOTING SPREE IN ILESA: On August 6, 2006, the same notorious PDP thug, Ibukun Fadipe and Wale Oni led a band of thugs to storm the secretariat of our party at Okesa street, Ilesa, Osun State. The thugs came in a fully loaded 18-seater bus painted in the “Idera De” colour and inscription of Oyo State to disrupt the meeting of the campaign organisation. They shot sporadically into the air to cause panic and tension in the area. That he was neither arrested nor interrogated went a long way to confer on Wale Oni the right to boast that “I am above the law” subsequently.

Later in 2006 and drawing from the official tolerance, encouragement and patronage enjoyed by Wale Oni from the Oyinlola administration, Ibukun Fadipe emerged and was unleashed on the entire city of Ilesa to cause mayhem and terror. He started with the PDP and went ahead to become untouchable.

He was briefly arrested by the Police in Ilesa and transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Bureau then located in Ayetoro area of Osogbo, the state capital. All efforts made by the Police to charge the PDP thug to court were frustrated by his sponsors at the Osun State government House who ensured that he was promptly released.

To compensate him for his effrontery, Fadipe was made the Chairmanship Candidate of the PDP for Ilesa West Local Government in the massively boycotted December 15, 2007 Local Government Poll. Of course, because we did not participate in the election, he was announced as the winner. Ever since then, no effort has been spared by Fadipe to boast that as the Local Government Chairman, he was the Chief Security Officer (CSO) and enthroned himself as the enforcer-in-chief.

All imaginable crimes in the books have been perpetrated against the opposition. Fadipe became lawless and violent. Those who have crossed his way were treated to unimaginable bestiality, dehumanisation and horror.

He was the person who organised thugs to vandalise the family house of the Aregbesolas in Ilesa shortly before the wantonly rigged 2007 elections. The then Police Commissioner was later to blame Aregbesola for causing the vandalisation of his family home. Fadipe was on hand when the PDP wanted to force Alhaja Aregbesola popularly called Mama Olobi in Atakunmosa Market, Ilesa, the Octogenerian mother of Rauf Aregbesola out of Ilesa to proceed on exile in Lagos.

The fear of Ibukun Fadipe has kept the old woman away from Ilesa since then. Before then, this woman had never had to spend a whole week outside of Ilesa, her hometown. Alhaja Aregbesola’s only offence was that her son dared to run for the same office with Ibukun Fadipe’s sponsors and godfather. She has since remained internally displaced in a nation that is neither at war or facing natural disaster.

ISAAC MAKINWA’S MURDER SPREE IN ILESA: Having realised that the Action Congress (AC) had won the House of Assembly seat he contested on the platform of the PDP, Chief Isaac Makinwa angrily drew his riffle and shot at three supporters of the AC. He was initially arrested and detained while his rifle was seized by the Police. However, he soon regained freedom at the intervention of Governor Oyinlola and his Deputy, Erelu Olusola Obada, without being charged to court for the capital offence of serial murder he committed.

MURDER OF PDP CHIEF AGBO OBADARE BY IBUKUN FADIPE: Before the latest murder committed by Ibukun Fadipe, he had similarly attacked the former PDP Chairman in Ilesa East Local Government, Chief Agbo Obadare. The offence of the late Chief Agbo Obadare was that he did not support a PDP gubernatorial aspirant that he, Ibukun Fadipe favoured. Agbo Obadare’s support for a different candidate led to an assault by Ibukun Fadipe alias Olokaloko to attack the former PDP chairman in Ilesa West Local Government and inflicted fatal injuries on him. Obadare was rushed to the hospital for medical attention but the severity of the injury inflicted on him by Ibukun Fadipe was too much for him to bear. He gave up the ghost on January 9, 2010.

Reeling under the social burden of culpability and vicarious liability and apparently trying to explain away the blue murder, chieftains of the PDP claimed that Chief Agbo Obadare died from diabetes. This is a laughable excuse that has fallen flat under the weight of reality.

The similarity in the attacks personally carried out by Ibukun Fadipe on Chief Agbo Obadare and the DHL’s Chief Komolafe was that he hit them with blunt objects on their heads. Like Chief Komolafe, Agbo Obadare also died of head injuries.

OSUN POLICE HAVE IBUKUN FADIPE ON RECORDS: Since 2006, the crime diaries of the Osun State Police Command is full of several reports of violent anti-social behaviours of Ibukun Fadipe and his co-travellers. Surprisingly, he was left off the hook on each occasion by his powerful godfathers and godmother at the Osun State Government House who breathe down the necks of security agencies in Osun State to effect the release of this criminal suspect each time he is arrested by the police.

ILLEGAL BARRICADE OF ISIDA ROAD BY IBUKUN FADIPE TO PREVENT AREGBESOLA’S CONVOY FROM PASSING THROUGH: On March 4, 2007, Ibukun Fadipe led 20 notorious thugs bearing dangerous weapons to erect an illegal blockade of Isida Road in Ilesa to prevent the vehicles in the campaign convoy of Engineer Aregbesola from passing through. In the ensuing confusion, some vehicles in the convoy of Aregbesola were damaged. We reported this incident to the Police at the Divisional Police Command, Ayeso, Ilesa the same day but no action was taken on it.

MARCH 26, 2007 ATTACK ON AC’S MEGA RALLY IN ILESA: Gentlemen of the Press, you were present at the Ilesa Stadium when we held our Mega Rally preparatory to the last General Elections. It was this same Ibukun Fadipe that led gun-wielding thugs to attack innocent people during the rally and inflicted injuries on many unarmed supporters.

APRIL 9, 2007 ATTACK ON HON P. S. ADEMOLA BY IBUKUN FADIPE: Few days to the last general elections, Ibukun Fadipe led his band of thugs to attack our party leader, Hon. P. S. Ademola in his shop when PDP was holding their rally. Many Okada riders suffered untold horror because of their alleged support for Aregbesola. During the reign of terror, a mobile policeman was reportedly machete to death by the Ibukun Fadipe-led thugs. The matter was swept under the carpet as no arrest was made.

ABDUCTION OF AC MEMBERS: On November 26, 2007, this same Ibukun Fadipe abducted Mr. Rahman Owoeye who was employed by Alhaji Azees Issa Adesiji, the Chairmanship Candidate of the AC in Ilesa West Local Government to paste his campaign posters. Owoeye was severely assaulted while the vest that he was wearing which bore the picture of Aregbesola was torn to shreds. This incidence was reported to the Police Station at Ayeso but nothing was done on it. Fadipe again led thugs to attack Owoeye and inflict injuries on him the following day at Isokun roundabout. This time, Owoeye was taken to the Police Station for them to see before he was taken to the hospital for treatment.

ATTEMPT TO KILL ALHAJI AZEES ADESIJI BY IBUKUN FADIPE ON DECEMBER 2, 2007: On this day, ibukun Fadipe led his thugs to attack his opponent in the December 15, 2007 Local Government poll, Alhaji Azees Issa Adesiji and other AC leaders while visiting Chief Loromu at Ita Ofa, Ilesa. One Mr. Adeniran Ojo was hit with an iron rod and wounded on his head while sustained serious injuries during the attack. Alhaji Adesiji was dispossessed of his money (N10, 000.00) and his two valuable handsets worth N45, 000.00 during the attack. When we reported the matter, the Police told us of their helplessness to arrest Fadipe because of his closeness to Governor Oyinlola and his Deputy, Erelu Obada.

ATTACKS ON THE OWA-OBOKUN, OBA ADEKUNLE AROMOLARAN: Last year, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola bared his fangs and openly lied against the Owa-Obokun of Ijesaland, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Dr.) Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran on prime time radio and television broadcast accusing the monarch of embezzling some funds.

The Governor shamelessly lied against this monarch because he was aware that the old man would not reply him. However, the truth is that Oba Aromolaran never misspent any funds. The monarch is innocent and undefiled. He was a victim of Oyinlola’s obdurate politics of pacification of Ijesaland. We are certain that he will fail in his blind venture.

THE APRIL, 2007 ARMY OCCUPATION OF IJESALAND: None of you will ever forget how Oyinlola mobilised soldiers to lay siege to Ilesa few days to the April 14, 2007 elections. The soldiers turned Ilesa to an occupied territory and acted the script of Oyinlola.

Following the spontaneous protest by members of the public over the announcement that the election was won by Oyinlola and not Aregbesola who was the one freely chosen and mandated by voters to be the next Governor Oyinlola visited Ilesa on April 16, 2007 and ordered the soldiers drawn from the Second Mechanized Division, Ibadan to shoot blindly at civilians and kill them with reckless abandon.

Several of our kinsmen were killed by the soldiers under the supervision of the then General Officer Commanding, Major-General Mohammed Saleh. The soldiers were hurriedly withdrawn when it was becoming an embarrassment to the military authorities to explain the pogrom which their officers and men committed in Ilesa against our people.

ABDUCTION AND RAPE OF MISS TOSIN AJAKAYE BY IBUKUN FADIPE AND OTHER PDP LEADERS ON INDEPENDENCE DAY, 2007: For merely being an admirer of our great party and a supporter of the Governorship Candiate of AC, Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, Miss Tosin Ajakaye aged 17 was assaulted and violently gang raped by leaders of PDP led by Ibukun Fadipe alias Olokaloko and Chief Gani Oladiran a. k. a. Gani Executive on October 1, 2007. The only sin of this innocent girl was that she would not do the bidding of the PDP leaders as she stuck to her political belief in a guaranteed future of hope, renewal and democracy which our party has promised and which we are determined to deliver to our people. Gentlemen of the press, we would want to ask the PDP to explain whether rape has become the punishment for refusal to join their sinking boat? This case was reported to the Commissioner of Police who did not do anything until Nigeria began suffering international embarrassment over the rape case. Still, Ibukun Fadipe, the principal suspect was left off the hook while insignificant ones were arrested, charged to court and released on bail immediately under a spurious arrangement.

When the matter was reported to the then Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Sulaimon D. Fakai, he directed the Officer in charge of the CP’s Monitoring Unit, Supol Saliu to investigate the serious crime. Despite Supol Saliu’s efforts, nothing came out of it as the culprits have been walking about free and boasting that nothing could happen to them since they are connected with Governor Oyinlola in Osogbo.

THE MURDER OF CHIEF TONY OSANYIN: Within the PDP, the war of attrition has no boundary. This could be seen in the cold-blooded murder of the one time Permanent Secretary and accomplished technocrat, Chief Tony Osanyin. He was a leader of the PDP who chose to stay on the course of right and spoke his mind on all issues. For disagreeing with the cabal in the PDP, what Chief Tony Osanyin got in reply was death from assassins’ bullets. Till today, no one has been prosecuted for the death of Chief Osanyin whose blood is still crying for justice.

IBUKUN FADIPE’s OPEN THREAT TO KILL AREGBESOLA AT IWUDE-IJESA, 2009: Ibukun Fadipe, the roving murderer of PDP in Ijesaland on the Thursday preceding the last Iwude-Ijesa Festival in Ilesa, led thugs to disturb members of the Action Congress (AC) from erecting their canopies on the space provided for them by the organisers at the Obokungbusi Palace Ground venue of the Iwude Ijesa festival.

At the occasion, Fadipe popularly called Olokaloko (meaning the one who rears the poisonous and deadly Gabon Viper snakes on his farm) allegedly boastfully threatened that he would do everything to stop Aregbesola from attending the Iwude Ijesa Festival. He further told whoever cared to listen that as the Chairman of Ilesa West Local Government and Chief Security Officer of the Council, he had “declared Aregbesola a persona non grata in Ilesa” his hometown.

To underscore his seriousness, this murder suspect who operated above the law openly declared to whoever cared to listen that Aregbesola would be assassinated if he should dare him. We want to state clearly that Ibukun Fadipe is acting the script of the embattled Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola who has allegedly been quoted by sources as threatening that Aregbesola should be killed and the case hung on his neck. He does not have the gut to carry out his heinous act if Governor Oyinlola had not been restraining the Police and other security agencies from arresting and prosecuting him.

ATTACK ON HON. GBENGA ONIGBOGI’S SUPPORTERS ON JUNE 12: After the last June 12 celebrations by Ilesa West Local Government, Honourable Gbenga Onigbogi and his supporters were said to have relocated to the popular Elite Club House along Isokun Road, Ilesa to continue their celebration. This decision was said to have angered Ibukun Fadipe who stormed the Elite club House with his thugs to disrupt what he termed a parallel celebration different from the one he organised.

HON. LIPSON, EX-SUPERVISOR, NOW ON DANGER LIST: Hon. Lipson was a Supervisory Councillor in Ilesa West Local Government. He has a shop along Isokun Street, Ilesa. Gentlemen of the press, unless by an act of God’s grace and mercy, Hon. Lipson may be the next casualty as he was attacked by Ibukun fadipe in similar manner. His offence was that Lipson disregarded his advice not to go and obtain the Councillorship nomination form of the PDP. He is now dangling between life and death after he was attacked violently by Ibukun Fadipe.

ADE KOMOLAFE’s RELATIONS STILL IN CRITICAL CONDITION: There is palpable fear that the mother-in-law of the late Chief Ade Komolafe and other relations of the deceased who were attacked by Ibukun Fadipe in their Ilesa home on the fateful day are still lying critically ill. We pray for their speedy recovery but we are afraid that virtually all the recent victims of Ibukun Fadipe’s lunatic attacks did not make it.

ASSAULT ON A SERVING COMMISSIONER IN PDP GOVERNMENT, Mrs. Fausat Sarumi By Ibukun Fadipe…

CONCLUSION: Gentlemen of the press, what we are witnessing in Ijesaland today is a campaign of pacification sponsored and unleashed by Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola against our people and the Owa-Obokun, Oba (Dr.) Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran for the effrontery of one of our own, Aregbesola, to seek the office of Governor which Oyinlola occupies against the democratic will of the people of Osun State. All these developments were reported to the Police. The threat by Ibukun Fadipe to kill Aregbesola during the last Iwude-Ijesa Festival was reported to the Police. It now appears that the Police have refused to arrest Ibukun Fadipe simply because it involves Ijesa people who should be punished because one of their own is making effort to democratically replace Oyinlola as the Osun State Governor. We are compelled, therefore, to belief that any Ijesa that sufferers humiliation, oppression or get killed by Ibukun Fadipe and his band of thugs as it has been the case with Chiefs Agbo Obadare and Ade Komolafe suffered the cruel fate because they are Ijesa; the kinsmen of Aregbesola.

Again, gentlemen of the Press, we need to inform you that Ibukun Fadipe’s lunacy knows no boundary. Recently, Ibukun Fadipe stormed the popular Iya Dada Food Canteen in Ilesa and ordered them to close up the business. He complained that the canteen was where members of AC used to go and eat. When his order appeared to have been disregarded, Ibukun Fadipe carried the biggest pot of hot pepper stew and poured the entire content on an innocent female staff that was standing by while he was belching his martial order. The lady suffered high degree burn and is still recuperating in the hospital.

Across the six Local Governments of Ijesaland, our people are being oppressed, assaulted and humiliated simply because they are kinsmen of Aregbesola who had the gut to contest for the office of the Governor of Osun State with Oyinlola.

We hereby call on the Inspector General of Police Ogbonaya Onovo to address the grave issues of political oppression in Osun State before our people conclude that there is tolerance for the violation of the rule of law by the Federal Government in Abuja. What is going on in Osun State under Oyinlola is grievous enough to command the attention of the United Nations. Our great party, AC at the State level, had detailed many of the atrocities and forwarded same to President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. We have also written severally to the National Security Adviser (NSA). The NSA specifically replied our petition and promised that he had directed the Inspector-General of Police to look into our petitions.

Till today, all those implicated in these terrible crimes are free, above the law and more violent than before complaints against them were lodged with the security agencies of the Federal Government. Where then do we turn to for a listening ear? Our people are now afraid of visiting home so as not to suffer the cruel fate which Ade Komolafe was made to pass through.

Ibukun Fadipe has done worse things but it only gained limelight when he went to attack and kill the leading light of Ijesa enterprise and industry. These developments are surely pointing to the direction of anarchy and lawlessness. When the ordinary feels unprotected, unsafe and at the mercy of the powers that be, the outcome is too frightening to contemplate. We are lovers of peace and orderliness. No one profits from chaos. That is why we have decided to address you today, gentlemen of the Press on this gradual descent to anarchy. Kindly take the appropriate steps to avert further deaths in Ijesaland. Enough is now enough!

Chief Kunle Odeyemi (State Treasurer)
ACTION CONGRESS, IJESA ZONE,
Osun State