The moment I began consulting leaders of thought across the 30 Local Governments of Osun State in year 2005 as part of plans to seek to serve as Governor of Osun State through the 2007 general elections, series of coordinated and state-sponsored attacks were planned and launched against my person and supporters.
The moment I began consulting leaders of thought across the 30 Local Governments of Osun State in year 2005 as part of plans to seek to serve as Governor of Osun State through the 2007 general elections, series of coordinated and state-sponsored attacks were planned and launched against my person and supporters.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
My movements soon became a subject of intensive surveillance while unfriendly attacks were launched at my person physically, psychologically and verbally. They include but not limited to the following:
1. APRIL 16, 2005: THE FAILED ATTEMPT TO ABORT THE LAUNCH OF ORANMIYAN
As part of our plans to seek the office of Governor of Osun State, we set out to launch ORANMIYAN; our campaign mobilization organ in Osogbo. April 16, 2005 was set as the launch day. The venue was fixed for Osogbo Township Stadium. But as soon as our programmes were put in place, the Oyinlola government deployed brute force, through the instrumentality of the police, to stop the event from taking place.
Many of our supporters were turned back from entering Osogbo, the state capital. As the news rapidly spread, more and more people were massing for the programme. A major confrontation was, therefore, about to ensue. As the leader of the movement, I was to have been prevented from entering Osogbo. But for a smart decoy that prevented security agencies from knowing my movements, the police, then acting in concert with Oyinlola, would have arrested me as soon as I entered Osogbo, the state capital. The Oyinlola government undeservedly aborted our rally. Were it not for sheer determination, our democratic rights would have been curtailed under the guise of state security.
2. VERBAL ASSAULT ON THE OPPOSITION
It is important to call your distinguished attention to the undignified use of language by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, since his assumption of the exalted office of governor in 2003. His conduct and utterances can easily provoke even the docile to anger and revolt.
Take our organisation, ORANMIYAN [Yoruba for “I am triumphant”], for example. But Governor Oyinlola, on the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) network, referred to us as “ORANMIRAN” [Yoruba for “Another calamity”]. While you may want to consider this as a simple inter-play of politics and sarcasm, it was an unrefined use of an unbecoming one-liner laced with crude abuse of the cultural heritage of our people by one man who was supposed to be the epitome of cultural strength of the people of Osun State. The former Governor’s attempt to vulgarize it was an attempt in self-immolation. Indeed, the Ooni of Ife,Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II who was normally a friendly monarch to Oyinlola chided my predecessor for that
Alhaji Razaak Salinsile was the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the rigged local government election in 2004. But the governor, on the hustling at Iwo, Salinsile’s base, derisively punned his name as “Sanasile” [Yoruba for “Set the house on fire”], a coinage that gave an entirely different meaning to the name, as cherished by the Yoruba.
There are several instances, showing that Oyinlola had no respect for other people – or, in any case, not sensitive enough to their feelings. Oyinlola was clearly intolerant of the opposition which, in a democracy is lawful, nurtured and allowed to fledge in the overall interest of the governed.
3. ASSASSINATION OF MY MAJOR FINANCIER-SULAIMON HASSAN-OLAJOKU
On Sunday May 16, 2005, a major financier of my campaign, Alhaji Sulaimon Hassan-Olajoku was brutally assassinated at Gbongan junction on his way back to Lagos, after attending a series of political events that we organised to mobilise support for my governorship ambition. Hassan-Olajoku was passionate and left no one in doubt as to his support for and loyalty to our cause. To demonstrate his total commitment, he fixed his turbanning as Baba Adeen of Ilobuland for April 16, 2005, the historic day on which ORANMIYAN was launched.
To underscore his belief in the effort of the democratic forces symbolized by me, Hassan-Olajoku again organised a ceremony in Ifon-Osun on Saturday May 14, 2005 to be able to market our governorship material to the people. Hassan-Olajoku personally redeemed all donations at the ceremony before everyone departed. This obviously was the reason he was, the following day, Sunday May 15, 2005, trailed to Gbongan junction where he was gunned down and murdered in the most gruesome manner in the presence of his teenage daughters and wife.
4. THE FIRST DIRECT ATTEMPT ON MY LIFE IN ILESA
On May 25, 2005, my friends organised a birthday rally inside an enclosed open ground opposite International Breweries, Ilesa, to commemorate my 48th birthday in Ilesa. As we were going to the venue of the ceremony in a convoy, one Wale Oni, a well known rough neck on the pay roll of Governor Oyinlola and his Deputy, Erelu Olusola Obada, led a gang of dare-devil men, wielding guns, pick axes and other deadly weapons and attacked our convoy. Using pick axes, the thugs ripped through a section of a bus that I was using for mobilisation activities exactly at the side where I used to sit. The clear intention of the murderous gang was to scythe me to death. When they discovered that I was not in the bus and that I had escaped their ploy to eliminate me, the thugs went berserk, pounced on everyone in the vehicle.
The leader of the gang, Wale Oni, was arrested and handed over to the police. He was soon released into freedom shortly after the incident was reported to the police on a direct order of the Deputy Governor, Erelu Olusola Obada. Needless to say, 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. Not a whimper of this dastardly act was heard again.
5. OROKI DAY, 2006: THE SECOND ATTEMPT TO KILL ME
The Osogbo Progressive Union (OPU), under the leadership of Alhaji Adekilekun Badmus, invited me as a Special Guests of Honour to the 2006 edition of Osogbo Oroki Day. Security details of Governor Oyinlola prevented me from taking my seat. I decided to leave and as I was leaving for my car, Oyinlola’s security details opened fire on me. My Mercedes Benz jeep was hit with several bullets, fired by professionally trained snipers. Miraculously, I managed to escape but my supporters were not so lucky as they were stripped naked, badly assaulted and attacked by thugs under the notorious banner of “14 MOPOL” trained and led by Liadi Gbadamosi known to be close to ex-Governor Oyinlola .
Within hours of this incident, the state police Commissioner, Alhaji Sulaimon D. Fakai appended his signature to full page adverts sponsored by Oyinlola and published in all national newspapers the following day where in he accused, tried and convicted me for being the brain behind the attack. The Police poured unmerited and unprofessional invectives on me as he heaped all blames on me for the attack which I suffered.
We have indestructible video evidence to tell the story as it was. From the runnings of events under the scheme of Oyinlola, the stage was set to confine me, my campaign organisation and my party into the dungeon. His utterances and the barefaced lies he told after the botched assassination attempt fell flat, at the production of the video recording of the event. Former Governor Oyinlola not only watched, unperturbed, how his snipers rained bullets on my car while PDP thugs descend heavily on branded ORANMIYAN vehicles. They yanked off doors and smashing glasses and windscreens during the contrived Oroki Day crisis. As if this was not enough, Oyinlola caused a falsely grounded petition to be sent to the Police that served as the basis for my subsequent arrest and incarceration for three weeks by men of the Lagos State Police Command.
Freedom did not come my way until I had to approach a Lagos High Court which ruled in my favour and awarded a N5 million cost against the police for illegal arrest and detention. It is instructive to note that in flagrant disregard for the rule of law, the cost has not been paid till now.
6. SPONSORED ATTACKS ON MY CAMPAIGN BILLBOARDS
As the Governorship Candidate of my party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State, since year 2006, came under direct attack by PDP vandals. The attack began with the one erected at the Gbongan junction, on the Ife-Ibadan expressway. In February 2007, PDP thugs namely: Taye Alago, Hossana Oluwole, Nathaniel Ogundeji, Adeyemiaka Olaniyan and one Claro uprooted my campaign billboard in Okuku, Oyinlola’s hometown and took it to the home of Prince Ajibola Oyinlola, aka Baba Isale, elder brother of the Governor.
Specifically, the billboards lawfully erected in accredited sites in Ilesa were deliberately destroyed and defaced under the cover of the night. The locations of these billboards include Ido-Ijesa, Ijebu Ijesa road, Imo, and Ibodi, the village of Erelu Olusola Obada, the then Deputy Governor, among other areas.
The billboard erected in front of the Miccom Golf and Hotel Resort, Ada, Osun State was set ablaze while Oyinlola’s billboard was erected beside my burnt billboard. Oyinlola’s billboard which was later erected to replace my own that was burnt suffered no collateral defacement. Earlier, my billboards in Ikirun, many areas in Osogbo including Orita-Ayetoro, Stadium junction, among other areas, were consistently destroyed or defaced. Worst hit was the one at Stadium junction, Osogbo, which, though had just been replaced, was defaced almost immediately after. These sponsored vandals moved to launch coordinated attacks on my billboards at Orita-Awo/Ede junction and Otan Ayegbaju.
VANDALISATION OF MY FATHER’S HOUSE IN ILESA
On March 26, 2007, dare-devil PDP members acting under the instruction of the then Governor Oyinlola attacked my father’s house, destroying the property and smashing the vehicles parked inside the house. I do not reside in the house to warrant their intention to embark on the vandalisation. The only reason why the PDP men attacked and vandalised my father’s property was traceable to the fact that we had a successful rally in Ilesa Township Stadium where the people massively expressed support for my candidature. Oyinlola and his henchmen could not handle the runaway popularity which I enjoyed in the town.
HOW MY OCTOGENERIAN MOTHER WAS FORCED TO LEAVE ILESA
Oyinlola and the PDP were unrelenting in their onslaught against me and members of my family. My mother is a kolanut trader at the popular but ancient Atakunmosa market. Prior to this time, the old woman had spent her entire adult life in Ilesa and never, for once, residing outside the ancient city. The story changed when I decided to engage in a lawful democratic contest the Governorship position of Osun State in 2007.
Realising that her life was under, my mother had to forcefully run for her dear life as she relocated outside her home town.
Her only offence was that her son had the temerity to challenge Oyinlola and run for the Governorship of Osun State. My mother had nothing to do with politics but she was nearly killed and had to flee her homestead, town and state in view of the threat to her life.
ATTACK ON MY CAMPAIGN CONVOY IN OKUKU
On March 21, 2007, my campaign train moved into Okuku, Odo Otin Local Government, in continuation of our electioneering for the state governorship and other elections. The train moved into the palace of the Olokuku of Okuku where I went to pay homage to the monarch and sought his royal blessing and support. But as soon as we finished and moved out of the palace, thugs under the banner of “Uncle Lagun Boys” stoned my convoy and destroyed seven vehicles.
Around this same time of electioneering in 2003, this same set of thugs attacked and stoned the convoy of the former Governor of Osun State, Chief Adebisi Akande, during his courtesy visit to the Olokuku of Okuku. Prince Oyinlola, under the attendant burden of shame, had to visit Chief Akande, and did the most deceitful act of groveling before Chief Akande in apology for the Governor’s humiliation. Four years down the line, and on the virtual eve of another election, history again repeated itself – even with Oyinlola as sitting governor then.
ANOTHER ATTEMPT ON MY LIFE FAILED AS DR. YEMI OLADIMEJI, PDP CHIEF LAUNCHES ATTACKS MY CAMPAIGN OFFICE
A leading chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Dr. Yemi Oladimeji led a blinding gun raid in my campaign office with the sole intention of assassinating me. My personal office was then located on the third floor of Oranmiyan House where volleys of bullets were fired from automatic weapons.
At exactly 10.05 pm on Saturday April 7, 2007, a band of gun-totting thugs loaded into the vehicles in the convoy of Dr. Yemi Oladimeji fired several gunshots into the campaign office. As the attack was going on, one of the hoodlums made for the personal car of the editor of Osun Defender newspaper, Mr. Kola Olabisi and fired at him point blank. Though Olabisi narrowly escaped being hit directly, his car was riddled with bullets just as his ‘Buba’ shirt was torn by one of the flying bullets.
As Oladimeji’s convoy provided cover for the gun attack, the film projector with which my campaign activities were being beamed was stolen by one of the attackers. This incident coincided with a similar attack on the film projector being used for similar purposes at Ilesa and Ile-Ife.
Dr. Yemi Oladimeji had spearheaded and launched series of attacks on my campaign since last month with the one of March 26, 2007 being the bravest. Oladimeji instructed his thugs to attack and drag out Aregbesola from his car PDP chief launches attacks Aregbesola’s campaign office. Rather than arresting and prosecuting Oladimeji and his band of thugs, members of Action Congress were randomly nabbed, detained and remanded in prison custody. Part of the alleged plans of the PDP was to burn down the imposing Ayinke Tower with the intention of crippling the operations of Action Congress before the governorship election.
Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola at whose behest the attacks have been taking place has been boasting on the state radio and television stations that members of the opposition would be jailed for opposing his rigging plans.
My predecessor, Oyinlola, was fond of making several unguarded and un-graceful comment at his monthly live television and radio programme tagged Open Forum that gave him away as the master-mind of the undemocratic behaviours listed above. On one of such programmes, Oyinlola had said that “Bi ekolo ba n se bi ejo, ipa ejo naa ni won maa n paa”. Simply put, if the earthworm behaves like a snake, you must kill it in the same manner that you kill a snake. Oyinlola’s use of language was inciting, intemperate, uncouth, un-gentlemanly devoi9d of gubernatorial responsibility all capable of being called no other names than executive recklessness and impunity.
He once boastfully told his audience on the Open Forumprogramme that “mi o je akara gba General” meaning I did not become an Army General for merely eating fried yam as he was responding to a question asked by one of his admirers on the apparently formidable nature of the challenge we posed to his regime.
MILITARY SIEGE ON OSOGBO AND ILESA
Prior to the election there was an unusual military show of force in Osogbo which was thought was for the intimidation of the opposition, however, this paled into insignificance when a full scale siege was imposed on Osogbo and Ilesa by the military through the direct invitation of Olagunsoye Oyinlola. And the residence of the two towns were brutally harassed, bestialize and oppressed by the military all because they massively voted for us in the april 14th gubernatorial election. The scars of the brutalization and dehumanization are still there on the people and the properties.
ATTEMPTS TO IMPLICATE ME IN JUNE 4, 2007 ABERE EXPLOSION
The former Governor, retired Brigadier-General Olagunsoye Oyinlola issued a statement which tried in vain to implicate me as the brain behind the June 4, 2007 explosion at the State Secretariat, Abere, Osogbo. In order to clear the air on this latest plans, we wrote a letter to the former President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua detailing a litany of attacks launched against me, my party and supporters. To clear the air on the matter, we demanded from the then President Umar Musa Yar’Adua the constitution of a Judicial Panel of Enquiry to afford victims of lawless repression and abuse of office by the Oyinlola administration to air their experiences and seek redress.
The former Governor Oyinlola tried desperately but unsuccessfully to hang on Aregbesola and the Action Congress (AC). As soon as the incidence happened, Governor Oyinlola’s instant reaction was to call on the Nigeria Police to invite me to come and explain what he knew about the bomb blast even when investigation was yet to commence into the matter.
The State Police Command, under the leadership of Alhaji Sulaimon Fakai conducted an in depth investigation and presented a report to the Inspector-General of Police on the bomb blast saga. The report, did not in any way implicate me or any of my supporters as Brigadier-General Oyinlola had expected. Unsatisfied that his expectations were dashed, Governor Oyinlola then arranged the removal of the prime suspect, Mr. Richard Abayomi Adesanmi from the custody of Ilesa Prisons to what was called a “protective custody” in Governor Oyinlola’s official residence in Osogbo. As soon as the suspect was taken into the presence of Oyinlola, he was cajoled, coached and tutored to recant his earlier statement.
For about four months, Richard Abayomi Adesanmi, the prime suspect who had been in police custody was moved to Abuja for further interrogation. His story remained unchanged consequent upon which he was arraigned in court and remanded in the custody of Ilesa Prisons.
The trial resumed on Tuesday March 11, 2008 when the police allegedly at the behest of the Mr. Niyi Owolade, the Osun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice curiously secured bail for Adesanmi from the Osogbo Magistrate Court where he had been standing trial.
Adesanmi was taken to the cells of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) at Oke-Baale, Osogbo in the night of March 11, 2008. He was provided with mattress, pillow, food and other conveniences that he was not enjoying in prison custody and which other suspects in SARS cell did not enjoy. The suspect remained in SARS cell until Friday March 14, 2008 when he was again moved to the Governor’s Lodge, Oke-Fia, Osogbo.
The statement which was sworn to as affidavit was obtained from Adesanmi while he was moved to the Osun State Governor’s Lodge. The suspect was obviously cajoled, coached and brainwashed to implicate me in the bomb blast saga. What Oyinlola has been trying to do since 2004 was to ensure that Aregbesola, his arch-opponent in Osun State was framed into criminality and kept out of circulation.
Known gunmen working for former Governor Oyinlola and the PDP carried out the brutal killings of Saheed Adebiyi, our party agent in Oke Iroko opolling unit, Ikirun, Ifelodun local Government, Ikirun and Ayobami “Kemba” Oni who was murdered in Igbajo, Boluwaduro Local GovernmentThese gunmen also carried out the murder of Pa Lawal Adesina in Ikoyi and my other supporters in Ede, Ilesa, Ila-Orangun, Ode-Omu and other parts of Osun State during the April 14, 2007 election. None of these killers have been brought to book till date.
IMPORTATION OF SUNDAY ADEYEMO a. K. AIGBOHO TO ELIMINATE ME
One Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Igboho, a notorious thug who used to ply his trade as a roughneck in his native Oyo state before the heat became too hot for him and he evaded arrest by relocating to Osun state where he becomes a demigod that has been used to terrorize the people in the past six years. He has grown so powerful that he rubs shoulder with the illegitimate power holders in Osun today who now live under the perpetual fear of attack from him and his boys. Prior to the 2007 General election, Sunday Igboho was caught with a cache of arms and sophisticated weapons kept in the home of an Islamic cleric in Osogbo. The two of them were released without trial barely 24 hours of their arrest and nothing has been heard of the case till date.
This same Sunday Igboho was later arrested by the police for gun running, on the basis of its intelligence report and on the orders of the Inspector General of Police. Curiously and in a twist of fate, Igboho soon regained freedom and came back to the streets of Osogbo, terrorising my supporters and threatening to kill me several times. When the former Commissioner of Police, Mr. John Moronike was redeployed, the major gist was that he refused to buckle under the weight of undue pressure to release Sunday Igboho from detention.
HOW OYINLOLA SHIELDED ISAAC MAKINWA FROM JUSTICE OVER APRIL 14, 2007 SERIAL MURDER IN ILESA
On the day of elections, April 14, 2007, late Isaac Makinwa, the then Chairman of Ilesa East Local Government of Osun State lost the election into the state House of Assembly. Frustrated by the loss of his deposit, Makinwa drew his riffle, shot and killed four of my supporters for daring to celebrate the victory of AC candidate in the election held that day. He was arrested by the Police for the crime of serial murder and was detained pending arraignment in court for this capital offence. As soon as the elections were over, Oyinlola used his influence to pressure the Police to drop the plan to charge Makinwa to court for murder and released him into freedom.
THE RAPE OF TOSIN AJAKAYE
For merely being my supporter and refusing to kow-tow after notable PDP leaders like Chief Gani Oladiran , an acolyte of Oyinlola was accussed of involvement in the rape and dehumanization of then 17 year-old Miss Tosin Ajakaiye in September 2007 and other members of Action Congress (AC). It is sad and unfortunate that up till he was flushed out of office, Oyinlola did not utter a word of condemnation of this rape charge regardless of the worldwide outrage that greeted the incidence that changed the life of the young lady who was then seventeen (17) years old. When Oladiran and the other boys were picked up for questioning by the police, Oyinlola prevented Ibukun Fadipe’s arrest till date on this matter.
Tosin Ajakaye merited this treatment simply because of her unwavering support for me and my aspiration to be the Governor of Osun State.
MILITARY INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF ILESA ON APRIL 15, 2007
Dissatisfied with the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that unjustly declared Oyinlola as the winner of April 14, 2007 governorship election, spontaneous protests erupted in major towns across the state. Oyinlola consequently ordered soldiers to embark of armed pacification of people in Ilesa largely because they are my kinsmen and women. The soldiers sacked Ilesa and imposed an atmosphere of panic in the hitherto peaceful city. Many people were murdered in cold blood. We have pictorial evidence of soldiers’ ruthlessness against defenceless civilians. The attached picture is one that explains my petition. We have made several searches for the young man in this picture and our years of findings have yielded no result. We do not know whether he is alive or dead.
Former Governor Oyinlola was caught on tape, ordering that I should be declared wanted in connection with the protest just as he ensured that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) the 2nd mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Major-general Mohammed Saleh supervised the mass killing of civilians in Ilesa. The soldiers carried out several other bestial acts in Ilesa and Osogbo including rape that later became a scandal which consequently led to their panic return to barrack.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2009, ATTACK ON MY CONVOY IN IKIRUN
As I was returning from a wedding ceremony of the daughter of my friend and supporter, Alhaji Tijani Oladosu in Ikirun, Ifelodun Local Government which I chaired, several vehicles in my convoy were attacked by armed thugs led by one Sarafa Awodele who was then the chairman of Ifelodun Local Government.
Apparently displeased with the show of affection, support and enthusiasm shown by the people who trooped out of their homes to wave at me as I drove through Ikirun, the PDP Council Chairman Alh Sarafa Awotunde in a convoy of four cars including his personal Murano jeep and the official car then used by his wife fully loaded with thugs armed with sophisticated weapons attempted breaking the convoy in a manner that could have led to a breakdown of law and order.
When stopped by the policemen officially detailed to provide security for the AC chieftain, the PDP Chairman still went ahead to block the road through which I was passing with the four vehicles and left them there until the police and people in his convoy had to carry one of the vehicle out of the way to create an exit road for the people’s governor. If not for the patience and maturity displayed by our party members, such conduct is enough to cause a breach of public peace.
To cover this shameful and uncivilized conduct, Awotunde later rushed to the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) Radio station to falsely claim that I invaded Ikirun with thugs destroying and vandalizing Council property.
CONSISTENT BUT UNLAWFUL REFUSAL OF OSBC TO AIR MY POLITICAL MESSAGES
It is necessary for me to bring to your distinguished attention how the publicly funded Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) consistently denied me the use of its channels to broadcast my lawful messages to the public. The OSBC, in clear violation of the Broadcast Code, refused to air several jingles, news releases and other paid for programmes on its channels.
A clear example was the Call to Prayer (Islam) which I sponsored in the memory of my father, Alhaji Alli Aregbesola. When the tapes for this message which was to have been aired five times daily in line with Islamic practices was taken to OSBC, it was flatly rejected by officials of the Corporation who I was reliably informed, had to seek clearance from Oyinlola before deciding whether to air it or not.
The OSBC established its disdain for the law and discriminated against me when the same Islamic Call to Prayer was sent back to the studio and made out in the name of another chieftain of our party, Alhaji Fatai Diekola Oyedele. The OSBC accepted the material and gleefully aired it once my surname was not mentioned on it.
Being an address to the Osun State Truth and Reconciliation Commission by the Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });