The Osun State Police Command on Sunday disrupted a rally organised by loyalists of a governorship aspirant of the PDP in the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore and chase away members of his campaign group, who came from the 30 LG councils of the state.
CEOAFRICA source at the venue of the rally, originally scheduled to hold at Government Technical College, Osogbo, said that as early as 9.00am policemen stormed the scene and prevented the rally from being held at the playing ground field of the college, which was earlier booked for the rally.
It was reliably gathered that the policemen, numbering about nine, ordered members of the Omisore Youths Support Forum (OYSF), organiser of the rally, who converged on the venue to leave, even though no reason was given for their action. But the organisers of the rally relocated to the volley ball court of the college where the rally was eventually held at about 12.30 p.m.
Confirming the development, the coordinator of OYSF in the state, Mr Felix Fadipe, told journalists that the principal of the college had approved the use of the college playing ground for the rally after the payment of N20,000 by the organisation.
He said members of the group and other loyalists of Omisore, who came from all the 30 local government areas of the state to identify with Omisore’s gubernatorial ambition, were sent out of the venue by the police.
While deploring the action of the police, Fadipe lamented that: “We were denied the opportunity to organise a rally in our state in a democratic era. This shows intolerance on the part of the powers that be in the state.”
Addressing the crowd at the rally, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, Chief Adekunle Alao, chided the police for ordering Omisore’s supporters to leave the original venue, saying that Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s days were numbered in the state while expressing optimism that Omisore would take over from Aregbesola come 2014.
When contacted on the development, the Osun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs Folasade Odoro, promised to investigate the matter and get back to us on the matter.
