Help, Oyo APC Unity Members' Lives in Danger, Group Writes Buhari

Members of the Unity Forum of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State comprising the Minister for Communications, Adebayo Shittu; a gubernatorial aspirant, Prof. Adeolu Akande; a serving Senator and some members of the House of Representatives on Thursday evening raised the alarm over alleged threats to their lives.

There has been serious infighting in the once united and formidable state APC as Unity Forum is currently up in arms against the loyalists of the state Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, over the soul of the party since the commencement of the ongoing congresses.

‎A statement by Secretary of the group, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun, explained that many members of the group "have been receiving threats of attack and death if they dare turn up at the state congress of the party on May 19.‎"

The threat, he said, was coming less than three days to the state congress of the party billed for next Saturday.

The letter read: ‎"We are constrained to direct this letter to Your Excellency because of the urgent need for you to use your good office as the Chief Security Officer of the country to intervene in the unrelenting threat to the lives of our members and the threat to public peace by individuals and groups who surreptitiously identify themselves as defending the state Governor, Ajimobi's interest in the APC.

"As you are well aware, since the unfortunate incident at the secretariat of the APC on May 5, 2018, when hoodlums invaded the venue of a stakeholders meeting of the party and attacked law-abiding elders and members of the party, our members have daily come under threats to their lives.

"The threat to our lives has been reported to security agencies in the state, however it continued unabated. A new dimension has been added to these threats. Many members of the group have been receiving threats of attack and death if they dare turn up at the state congress of the party on May 19.

"I wish to assert that members of the group are law-abiding citizens to whom the government of the state owes a responsibility for their safety and protection against threat from any quarters.

"We have been forced by the tenacity of these threats to report and seek refuge in the intervention of the Inspector General of Police (IG) and the state Commissioner of Police, Obas in the state, including the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111; the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, and the Soun of Ogbomosho, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade.

"We have also sought refuge in the intervention of our religious leaders including the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Dauda Makanjuola, and the leadership of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

"We are therefore calling on Your Excellency to use your good office to protect members of Unity Forum from attack by these faceless hawks."