Daud Olatunji
The Osun State Commissioner for Environment and Sanitation, Mayowa Adejoorin, has regained his freedom after spending nearly 24 hours in police custody over a shooting incident that disrupted an All Progressives Congress rally in Ilesa.
Adejoorin was arrested on Saturday and taken to the headquarters of the Osun State Police Command in Osogbo for questioning after three people were reportedly injured during the rally in the Isokun area of Ilesa.
The police said the commissioner was intercepted while travelling in a white Lexus 350 in the vicinity of the incident.
The command’s spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, confirmed Adejoorin’s release on Sunday, saying the commissioner was freed after questioning.
“The commissioner has been released. He was released today,” Ojelabi said.
He, however, said the police were still trying to establish the status of an Amotekun operative who was arrested alongside the commissioner.
The incident has triggered competing allegations between the APC and the opposition Accord Party, with both sides giving different accounts of what led to the shooting.
According to the police, three persons sustained gunshot injuries during the rally and were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
Ojelabi said preliminary information available to the command indicated that some persons identified as Amotekun personnel allegedly emerged from a vehicle bearing an official Osun State Government number plate and fired shots at the rally.
He said one of the alleged Amotekun personnel was pursued by some people at the scene but escaped after allegedly wielding a knife.
The police spokesperson said officers of the Intelligence Response Team, who were deployed in the area, responded to the distress call and intercepted a vehicle believed to be connected to the incident.
He said an Amotekun operative and another occupant were arrested and taken to the police headquarters.
The second occupant was subsequently identified as Adejoorin.
Ojelabi said investigators recovered four expended cartridges at the scene and a pump-action firearm from the arrested Amotekun operative.
He stressed that the investigation was ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting and the level of involvement, if any, of those arrested.
Meanwhile, the APC Campaign Council Chairman for Ilesa West, Folarin Fafowora, gave a different account of the incident.
Fafowora alleged that the rally was nearing its conclusion when a vehicle moved through the area and gunshots were heard, triggering panic among participants.
He also alleged that some persons linked to the convoy fired shots during the confusion.
The allegations have not been independently established, while efforts to obtain a response from the Chief Whip of the Osun State House of Assembly, Wale Akerele, were unsuccessful at the time of filing the report.
The spokesperson for the Imole Campaign Council, Pelumi Olajengbesi, also rejected the allegations against the APC-linked figures.
Olajengbesi alleged that members of the APC were responsible for the violence and accused them of attacking Accord Party supporters and damaging the party’s secretariat.
The competing claims have further heightened political tension in the state ahead of the forthcoming election.
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