Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has lamented the killing of a teenager at Ilobu, Osun state, calling the incident “another bitter example of complicity of the state police command in the orchestrated political violence in parts of the state”.

The governor also reprimanded the police for allegedly protecting council officials of the All Progressives Congress and called for respect for the rule of law, the electoral act and the Nigerian constitution to sustain democratic governance.

In a condolence message signed by the spokesperson to the Governor, Olawale Rasheed on Monday, Adeleke said the killing was “openly perpetrated by a known political thug of the Osun APC and carried out in an AMBO branded Siena bus.”

Governor Adeleke condoled the family of the victim, calling for immediate arrest and prosecution of the identified thugs.

Expressing shock over alleged increasing complicity of the police in Osun political violence, Governor Adeleke questions the refusal of the police to stop the killing of the teenager and tasked the state police command to arrest Saheed Tanfeani who led the operations.

“This killing is the worst example of police complicity. This re-confirms a pattern of police indulgence of Osun APC political thugs who move around towns with guns and regular gunshots in the air. It is alarming that a police command watches as political thugs invade, attack and harass residents and supporters of the Accord.

“The Osun State Police Command is daily demonstrating reprehensible open bias and unacceptable partisan support for the Osun APC. There are even reports that some police officials accompany AMBO thugs in their daily operations. We have made sufficient representations to the Inspector General of Police and the Presidency.

“Our administration has filed several petitions to relevant security establishments on the impunity and the threats to peace and security of Osun state. We are again alerting the Presidency and the IGP that the police in Osun state have surrendered to political thugs and even providing support services to them.

“Presently, the Osun police command is providing protection to court sacked APC council chairmen who have just been re-sacked by the Federal High Court in a case they filed. Mobile policemen are deployed to council secretariats to protect court sacked, tenureless APC operatives, preventing duly elected PDP council chairmen and councillors from accessing the secretariats.

“This is clearly an abuse of police power in service of illegality. The deployment of mobile policemen to protect those occupying council secretariats illegally is the lowest ebb in the current trampling on our democratic life. A dangerous precedent has been set that will be resisted by our people.

“We alert Mr President that our people have been pushed to the wall. Failure of the police to enforce the law can force citizens to resort to self help. We must respect the rule of law, the electoral act and the constitution”, the governor was quoted as saying. (Guardian)

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