- Former Ondo State Commissioner Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye and his supporters reportedly escaped death during a violent APC ward congress characterized by thuggery and vandalism.
- The congress, which took place on Wednesday, resulted in two fatalities in Idanre and several injuries, including the assault of the state party chairman, Engr Ade Adetimehin.
- Yusuf-Ogunleye alleged that coordinated attacks involving suspected members of the NURTW targeted specific party leaders across various wards in the state.
Former Commissioner and Director General of the Grassroots Movement for Tinubu (GMT), Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, has detailed a narrow escape from death during the crisis-ridden ward congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State.
Eko Hot Blog reports the internal party exercise, which was intended to be a nationwide peaceful event, descended into chaos as suspected political thugs invaded various venues, leaving two people dead in Idanre and several others with life-threatening injuries.
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The violence reportedly began at the party’s state secretariat in Akure, where a stakeholders’ meeting led by the state chairman, Engr Ade Adetimehin, was violently disrupted by hoodlums.
Witnesses reported that Adetimehin was physically assaulted and harassed by the invaders, who were allegedly loyal to the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
The scale of the brutality extended to the chairman’s family; his brother, Raphael Adetimehin, was reportedly shot and attacked with machetes by hoodlums who allegedly mistook him for the chairman.
His vehicle was also set ablaze during the confrontation. Other high-profile victims of the violence include former lawmaker Success Torukerijoh and former council chairman Dayo Akinsuroju, both of whom are currently receiving treatment at medical facilities for critical injuries sustained during the melee.
Recounting his experience, Yusuf-Ogunleye stated that the attackers appeared to be working with specific instructions to eliminate him.
He noted that the tension from the initial disruption at the state secretariat had already created an atmosphere of fear before the thugs arrived at his location.
According to the former commissioner, the hoodlums entered the venue specifically asking for his whereabouts and threatening his life.
He claimed that the presence of God was the only reason he and his supporters were not killed during the encounter, as the attackers were armed and appeared ready to carry out their threats.
“If not for God, we would have been dead by now. When they entered the hall, I saw them. I was listening to them when they were saying, ‘Where is Saka? We will kill him today.’ It has been God.
And when I was here, I started receiving calls from our party people, my supporters, people that we started this party together, that the chairman of the council, in the company of two lorries loaded with NURTW members, were attacking our members.”
Yusuf-Ogunleye further alleged that the violence was not isolated but was a coordinated effort to suppress participation across several wards.
He received multiple distress calls indicating that a council chairman, supported by truckloads of NURTW members, moved from ward to ward to disperse party faithful and confiscate mobile phones.
In Ward 1, a member was reportedly left in critical condition, while in Ward 8, the congress was forcibly ended after members were harassed.
The former commissioner also visited Ward 12 and Ward 3, where he witnessed the aftermath of attacks involving sticks and machetes.
He specifically accused a former House of Assembly member of bringing thugs in a private vehicle to beat party members, further complicating the internal crisis.
Despite these heavy allegations, the Chairman of the NURTW in Ondo State, Comrade Odudu Emmanuel Ademola, has formally dismissed the claims linking his union to the attacks.
Ademola insisted that the union was not involved in the assault on Engr Ade Adetimehin or any other stakeholders at the Akure secretariat.
However, Yusuf-Ogunleye has maintained that the attacks were intended to manipulate the congress outcome through fear.
He has called on the national leadership of the APC to launch a thorough investigation into the violence to ensure that those responsible for the deaths and injuries are brought to justice.
