Many people were allegedly injured as supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed over a signpost in Kwara State.
Our correspondent learnt that the incident, which occurred in the Ode Alausa area of Ilorin, also involved the use of cutlasses, sticks and broken windscreen.
A video of the incident, which went viral on Monday, showed a woman believed to be a PDP supporter accusing one Alhaji Olosasa, a leader of the APC in the area, of leading some thugs to attack four of her children for refusing to support the APC.
“It was while the APC members were installing a signboard (billboard) and they sighted my children. Rashidi, Suraju and Muniru, three members of the party, pursued my children with cutlasses and broken louvers. About 10 of them also ambushed my second son but he was rescued by some residents of the area. Later they hit one of my children, Sabit, with a big stone in the head and he fainted. Initially, we thought he was dead until we got to the hospital from where I am talking now,” the mother claimed in the video.
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A resident of the area, who pleaded anonymity, said it was one of the APC chieftains, Alhaji Olosasa who ordered his children to attack some PDP members while installing the APC signpost before the PDP retaliated.
When contacted, APC chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, denied that his members were responsible.
He said “we were told that they molested a lot of people” but we called on the security agents to fish out the perpetrators to face the full wrath of the law.
The PDP Public Relations Officer, Prince Tunji Morounfoye, told our correspondent that “the party is still investigating but it was clear they went to attack us from the video we saw”.
Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations o
Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, while reacting to the issue advised political parties leaders to caution their supporters to stop the destruction, defacements of billboards, banners and posters belonging to the opposition parties.
He said, “The warning is not limited to any particular political party,” adding that intelligence available to the command had revealed the identities of the perpetrators.
“This is the last warning to hoodlums to either drop their lawless ways and relocate from Kwara State or face the consequences of their lawlessness,” he added.
