Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke on Saturday, ordered a probe into the alleged attacks in Egbedi town, where seven people were reportedly injured.
The Elegbedi of Egbedi, Oba Muideen Azeez, had on Friday said seven people from his town were injured in two separate attacks allegedly by some people from Ede.
He said two of those injured were inflicted with machete cuts on Wednesday, while five others were shot on Thursday by some people bearing arms.
The spokesperson for the Governor, Olawale Rasheed, in a statement issued in reaction to the incident, also assured the people of Egbedi of adequate protection.
‘The attention of His Excellency, Governor Ademola Adeleke has been drawn to a viral video and subsequent reported attacks on the town of Egbedi. The Commissioner for Local Government Affairs and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters have been directed to investigate the incident and ensure the restoration of peace in the area as urgently as possible.
‘The governor frowned at the unwholesome incident and directed immediate action by the Commissioner and the Special Adviser to restore normalcy through inclusive conflict resolution procedure. Governor Adeleke particularly rejected the involvement of the state government and advised against politicising the unfortunate face-off.
‘We should avoid politicising every incident. I have no gun-wielding appointee. I didn’t send anybody to foment a communal crisis. We will get to the root of the matter,’ the statement partly read.
It will be recalled that in a video that went viral on social media shared by one Lamina Kamiludeen Omotoyosi, a Facebook user in Osun purportedly recorded at the scene of Thursday’s incident, some arm-bearing men were seen walking towards a vehicle parked in the middle of the road, while some people that could not be seen were raining curses on them.
After entering their vehicle and leaving the scene, repeated gunshots were heard, as people within the vicinity kept mentioning the name of one Kazeem Oriade, said to be an aide to the Osun State Governor.
When contacted, Oriade, accused Egbedi residents’ of attacking him while he was travelling through the town to Ede alongside some of his aides on Thursday.
Oriade, who confirmed being an appointee of the governor, said while he was looking for a way to pass after the main road linking Egbedi and Ede was blocked by a truck involved in an accident, he eventually had to pass through a road close to the palace of Elegbedi.
‘Upon citing me, those in the palace premises are mostly youths and they all carried guns, they were making video recordings of us as we passed through the area.
‘I later asked my boys to go after one of them but we could not catch him. I directed them to go into our vehicle and we moved. Before we could leave the town, I heard gunshots. Our vehicle was hit. It was riddled with bullets.
‘They shot at my vehicle, I was shot at and some of my boys also sustained gunshot injuries. We also engaged them. I was able to seize one of their guns. I can’t say if any of them was injured,’ Oriade said.
