APC accuses Adeleke’s chief of staff of intimidation, forced defection plot

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Chief of Staff to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Alhaji Kazeem Akinleye, of orchestrating attacks and intimidation against party members in an attempt to force them to renounce their membership.

In a statement by its Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, the APC alleged that one of its members, Mr Ibrahim Taoreed, popularly known as Arabambi, was abducted and beaten by political thugs in Owode-Ede, Ede North Local Government Area.

According to the party, Taoreed, who chairs the commercial motorcycle riders’ association in the area, was assaulted because of his affiliation with the APC and was later taken to a leader of the group who allegedly contacted the Chief of Staff during the incident.

The APC further claimed that Akinleye questioned Taoreed’s continued membership of the opposition party despite development projects being executed in Ede and allegedly warned him to abandon the APC or risk being taken to the Zone 11 Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Osogbo.

Condemning the incident as a violation of political freedom and fundamental rights, the APC called on the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, to investigate the allegations and invite the Chief of Staff for questioning.

However, Governor Adeleke’s spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, dismissed the claims as false and accused the APC of attempting to divert attention from what he described as the party’s own violent activities in the state.

“It is quite distasteful that the Osun APC is employing crooked means to target a good man with outright lies so as to impugn his character in the estimation of the unsuspecting public. Alhaji Akinleye is a politician well respected in society for his peaceful disposition in pursuing political objectives,” Rasheed said.

He described the allegations and a video circulated by Taoreed as a scripted effort to tarnish Akinleye’s reputation ahead of the governorship election, insisting that the claims were baseless.