An attack on supporters of Accord at Odinjo, Iyana Modina in Ibadan, ward 8 Oyo State capital, on 1st of March 2015 Many reported dead and an unspecified number of supporters were seriously injured.
After several negotiations some strong contestants who were tipped to win stepped down from the race based on various reasons and threats from the ruling party
Therefore, with the current opinion polls conducted Hon Emmanuel o Adewumi Ogefon who had won the Federal rep at a very wide margin, as well as Hon Abasi Agboworin would have won the House of Assembly seat with wide margin but the security reports did not favour the duo
The new Accord candidates- Gbenga Adewusi (House of Representatives) and Ademola Ige (House of Assembly)- who were lucky to have lobbied the best top leading contestants to step down organised the mega rally with huge supporters of the aforementioned leading opinion polls candidates
Furthermore, some disgruntled elements known to be APC hoodlums who are in the habbit of terrorising any candidate who is possibly tipped to win the election attacked their supporters, which led to the death of so many of the Accord party supporters in a peaceful mega rally.
Our correspondent gathered that Accord Party , in a statement by the Director General of the Rashidi Ladoja Campaign Organisation, Rt Hon Adeolu Adeleke, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of sponsoring the hoodlums.
It posited that the party carried out the attack because of the perceived rising profile of Accord in the state, having best and most qualified candidates preferred by most voters
Though Adeleke claimed that many Accord supporters were killed, police spokesman Kayode Ajisebutu said only one person was killed. The police spokesman said three people had been arrested.
Adeleke said: “Worried by the growing popularity and acceptance of Accord in Oyo State, scores of APC thugs swooped on a peaceful mega rally of our House of Assembly and House of Representatives candidates in Ibadan South East/ North East Federal Constituency and Ademola Ige of Ibadan South East 1 State house of Assembly
At around 2 PM some miscreants were seen moving around and feeling jealous of the mass turn out of large supporters of Accord Party in Odinjo-Ode-Ige, Iyana Modina in Ibadan South-East Local Government.
Thereafter, at around 4.35pm on same day “The APC thugs carried guns numbering about 35 of them and other weapons when they stormed the rally and opened fired on our supporters and killed many of them on the spot.
Fifty seven people were injured, more unknown number of our supporters left with varying degrees of injuries, unknown source have it that,Hon Okunola, Hon Adeoye, Youth leader, Women leader, Hon Ogefon, Hon Akanbi and others were amongst those who were taken to UCH with various degrees of injuries.
“A team from SARS who was on ground initially did not do anything until later when the reinforced team joined them to arrest about three of the thugs with pump action guns; other members of the gang fled.”
But the APC denied the allegation, saying thugs among Adewusi’s supporters engaged urchins in a supremacy battle between Accord party members
The party added that Adewusi, Akanbi, Ogefon, Agoworin and Ige had been fingered as the major electoral problems of APC in Ibadan Oyo State
The APC‘s Director of Media and Publicity, Hon Olawale Sadare, said: “Neither our members nor supporters were involved in the fracas, which was recorded at Odinjo yesterday.
“We had it from sources that some thugs in the campaign team of Gbenga Adewusi (aka Arole), who is the Accord Party candidate for Ibadan North East/South East Federal Constituency engaged some street urchins in a supremacy battle and this resulted in a free-for-all.
“
“APC does not harbour political thugs and we do not sponsor violence in whatever guise.
“Therefore, we urge law enforcement agencies to carry out necessary investigation and ensure those found culpable are prosecuted.”
