- By Halimah Olamide
There was confusion at the Osogbo Central Praying Ground in the Osun state capital on Wednesday as Governor Ademola Adeleke and former spokesman of the Senate Surajudeen Basiru Ajibola had disagreement over sitting positions at the praying ground.
NPO Reports gathered that trouble started when the advanced security team of the Governor arrived at the praying ground ahead of the Eid-il Kabir prayers at the state capital and advised Ajibola to move from the position where he was sited claiming that was the place meant for the Governor.
An eye witness told the NPO Reports that the former senator complied and and moved to another position on the front roll of the praying ground. The security aides of the Governor were said to have again approached the former senator asking him to seek a another sitting position in the second roll.
It was at this point that the former senator declined insisting that he must sit in the front roll.
An argument was said to have ensured with supporters of the Governor and those of Ajibola showing readiness to combat one another. Present also at the scene was said to be an elder of Osogboland, Chief Tunde Badmus.
The situation was said to be degenerating to a chaos.
https://twitter.com/NpoReports/status/1674012930038267904?s=20IT was gathered that as this went on, words got to the Governor who was on his way to the praying ground at the time.
He was said to have ordered that gate of the praying ground be shut. NPO Reports had not verified this claim. Already, there are reports in a section of the media that the Governor turned back amidst fears of possible attacks by some people loyal to the other party.
An unsigned statement that is circulating has claimed that the governor escaped an assassination attempt. This could not be verified at press time.
While Governor Adeleke is of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ajibola is a member of the All Progressive Congress. His party lost all the elected positions in the state in the last general elections with the exception of only one House of Assembly seat.
Wednesday’s incident is believed to be a continuation of the festering political crisis in the state with the PDP and the APC trading claims.
Just last week, the Governor accused Ajibola of bringing in police men on illegal assignment to intimidate PDP leaders and others considerred to be against his interests.
Ajibola had accused the governor of harbouring criminals.
As at the time of this report, there was no police statement to confirm what happened.
Details later…