Amidst the increasing political tension between the parties ahead of the governorship election, the Accord Party reported that suspected political thugs attacked the party’s campaign office in Osogbo, broke into the office and destroyed campaign billboards.
The charges follow a highly charged political climate in the state as the ruling Accord Party and opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) have levelled accusations on cases of political violence and party paraphernalia’s vandalism on the battleground.
Previously, the national leadership of Accord had said in a malicious move it had named that their offices and party secretariat, popularly called Imole House in Osogbo, were attacked.
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The party said gunmen reportedly opened fire on the building, which saw the windows blown out and some offices damaged, including the office of the Campaign chairman of the Accord of the people of Osun state, Victor Akande.
The party also claimed that the attackers had graffitied the wall of the building with the phrase “Say No to Automatic Ticket,” which it said was an attempt by the attackers to cover up the nature of the attack.
Maxwell Mgbuden, National Chairman of Accord, blamed the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services for failing to find out and prosecute the responsible ones, dismissing the attack as the second against the facility in two weeks.
The party also claimed that billboards and other public property were vandalised in the past, and that this attack was done as part of a campaign of intimidation against party supporters ahead of the election.
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Allegations come on back of previous disagreements related with billboards placated in Osun for the campaigns.
The Imole Campaign Council that is backing the re-election of Governor Ademola Adeleke has charged the APC camp followers for uprooting Accord and campaign Billboards in some of the local government areas of the state such as Irewole, Ayedaade, Irepodun and Osogbo respectively.
It had time and time again dismissed these allegations, saying instead the other camp was destroying the APC’s campaign materials belonging to its governor’s candidate Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji. The opposition accused the allegations against it of being politically driven and distracting.
The battle over the billboards that were vandalized has thus turned into a political arms-wringing session, with neither side taking blame for these incidents.
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This comes on the heels of prior reports from police that investigations were launched after reports of campaign billboards being damaged. “A member of the Accord Party complained of the vandalism but he does not have any names of individuals or group to attribute to the action,” Osun Police spokesman, Murtha of the press department said. As investigations did in-depth, police officers subsequently inspected the affected locations.
The allegories have grown and stirred worries over the security climate around the election process. A recent piece of work has found some growing unease among politicians and voters due to attacks on party offices, on supporters and politicians’ materials.
The latest developments have brought a new set of challenges to the security agencies given the upcoming governorship polls, as they try to safeguard campaign offices, polling agents, nominees and their supporters without allowing the election process to turn violent.
Osun voters’ immediate concern goes beyond destroying billboards or party property.
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Citizens need to be able to participate freely in the electoral process, campaigners to interact with citizens and the outcome to be accepted by the citizens with confidence if there is no peaceful environment surrounding the elections.
These mutually questioning claims reinforce the need for speedy, candid investigations and clarify how vital holding these investigations is. Identifying perpetrators and motives for the attacks and determining if there were political sponsors would help to avoid accusations being another cause for tension leading up to polling day.
Osun’s political battle for the election is now playing out on the campaign platforms, the media and as violence and intimidation are increasingly being mentioned against the backdrop of the upcoming contest.
The security agencies are currently charged with the ‘critical duty of ensuring the peaceability and credibility’ of the democratic process in the state.
