Following Tuesday’s attack on the campaign rally of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Eyitayo Jegede, in Ipele-Owo, Ondo State, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bolaji Salami has assured that those behind the attack will be brought to justice.
The Commissioner of Police gave the assurance on Wednesday, when he visited Pele-Owo in company of the state commandant of the Nigeria Security And Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Philip Ayuba, for an on the spot assessment.
No fever than 10 PDP supporters sustained gunshot wounds and other injuries when suspected thugs attacked their campaign at IPele-Owo.
The Commissioner of Police, who assured that investigations are ongoing to get to the root of the incident, vowed that the perpetrators will be brought to book.
One of the victims, Mrs. Nike Alale, who said she recently returned from Norway said she was attacked while buying fuel at a filling station at Owo.
She said: “We were buying fuel when we heard gun shots. We ran inside the fuel station office. We were watching them as they destroyed my vehicle. They stole all the valuables in my car including my phones and the car documents. They came down from a campaign convoy, they were shouting kill them, kill them. I am not a politician, this is unfair”.
Meanwhile, Jegede condemned the violence, which he said is being perpetrated by those he described as desperate politicians.
Jegede during a visit to one of the victims, Sikiru Amuda, said the attack which came barely three weeks after a similar incident in Oba-Akoko community, was one too many.
He said: “Politics is not a do-or-die affair, rather, it should be seen as a quest to serve. In regarding it as such, there will be no need for desperation or violent acts as the people should be left to decide if they want you to serve them or not.”
He urged politicians to learn from the sordid event of the second republic in which many lives were lost and properties destroyed.
He expressed confidence in winning the October 10 governorship election, and urged the people not to exercise any fear, as his ambition “is God’s own project.”
He called on security agents to rise up to the occasion and safeguard the democratic process from being derailed by violent persons.
Amuda and two other party members were shot in Iyere-Owo, Owo Local Government Area by political thugs allegedly loyal to one of the political parties during a PDP rally.
