THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has alleged that Dele Ayegbo, a nephew of the party’s governorship campaign Director-General in the state, Wole Oke, was shot dead by suspected hoodlums amid heightened tension ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
News Point Nigeria reports that the Osun APC alleged that Ayegbo was killed in Esa-Oke, Obokun Local Government Area of the state, on Wednesday night, accusing what it described as a “hit squad” of the rival Accord Party of carrying out the attack, an allegation yet to be independently confirmed by the police.
In a statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Thursday, the spokesperson of the Osun APC, Kola Olabisi, alleged that Ayegbo was assassinated at a junction close to his house in the Idofin area of the town by suspected hoodlums riding in a car.
“The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the killing of the party’s governorship campaign Director-General, Wole Oke’s nephew, Dele Ayegbo, in Esa-Oke, Obokun Local Government Council Area of the state on Wednesday night by the hit squad of the Accord Party who have been terrorising the members and supporters of the opposition APC across the state,” the statement reads.
“Information has it that Ayegbo was gunned down at the road junction close to his house at the Idofin quarters area of the ancient town by the Accord Party hoodlums who were riding in a car.”
Olabisi claimed that two members of the APC were shot during the incident, including Ayegbo, who he said died instantly, while the other victim was rushed to an undisclosed hospital in the town and was receiving treatment.
He described Ayegbo’s killing as “one death, too many” and called on the police to urgently investigate the incident.
“The killing of the nephew of our campaign Director-general in Esa-Oke is one death too many which must be urgently unravelled by the police in the interest of fairness and justice,” he said.
While decrying the spate of killings in the state, Olabisi alleged that more than 30 APC members had been killed by political thugs.
He claimed that Ijesaland had recorded the highest percentage of the alleged political killings, alleging that 17 of the 30 APC members said to have been killed since 2022 were from the area.
“A common observation has been that whenever our members were killed, the self-acclaimed chief security officer of the state, Governor Adeleke would not condemn the killing which gives credence to his approval of the rampant extra-judicial killings of our members and supporters in the state,” Olabisi further claimed.
The APC spokesperson called on the Osun State Police Command to act swiftly on the killings ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
According to him, the alleged attacks were intended to scare APC members and supporters away from exercising their civic responsibility during the election.
“The purpose is to scare away our members and supporters from exercising their civic responsibility on Saturday,” he said.
As of the time of filing this report, efforts to obtain confirmation from the Osun State Police Command were unsuccessful, as Abiodun Ojelabi, spokesperson for the command, had yet to respond to requests for comments.