Two killed as gunmen attack APC mobilisation meeting in Osun

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

Suspected gunmen on Wednesday night attacked a mobilisation meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osogbo, killing two party members and injuring six others.

The meeting, held in the Owode-Igbona area of Osogbo, was organised for supporters of the APC governorship candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO), ahead of the formal flag-off of the party’s governorship campaign in Ile-Ife.

The deceased were identified as Kazeem Akande, 70, and Lekan, who both died from gunshot wounds. Others injured included the APC flag bearer in the area, Kehinde Salaudeen, 60; Olalekan Mutiu; and a 13-year-old girl, Rodiyat Ariyo, among others.

It was gathered that the attackers, dressed in black police-like uniforms, arrived in a white bus and another vehicle. They allegedly attempted to seize an APC youth leader, Mr Ogundele Awosola, popularly known as Ogunteru, but when he resisted and escaped, they opened fire on party members gathered at the venue.

A former Accord Party local government chairman who recently defected to the APC, Hon. Akinloye Isiaka, said he narrowly escaped the attack after leaving the meeting shortly before the gunmen struck.

“My brother, Awosola, invited me to the meeting. I had just left when the attack occurred. I am demanding justice for those who lost their lives,” he said while speaking with journalists at the Osogbo Central Hospital.

“This attack was premeditated. The Inspector-General of Police must act decisively because the security situation in Osun is becoming alarming,” he added.

Meanwhile, residents of the Idi Seke area of Osogbo were thrown into panic in the early hours of Thursday after armed hoodlums, believed to be political thugs, allegedly vandalised several vehicles and commercial buses. A commercial bus conductor was also reportedly attacked with cutlasses and sustained severe injuries.