Sagamu killings: APC, PDP trade blames

The two major political parties in Ogun State are currently involved in a blame game over the development, and the aftermath of last week’s cult killings in Sagamu has not yet settled.

About 20 people were killed in Sagamu amid cult skirmishes, and both the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party have blamed the other.

Despite Ogun’s Commissioner of Police Abiodun Alamutu’s clarification on Sunday that the cultists in Sagamu are neither students nor politicians, political parties have been exchanging barbs, particularly in response to the DSS’s detention of Hon. Damilare Bello.

The PDP quickly responded to the APC’s label of “a nest of cultists” by labeling the APC “a hub of cultists and criminals.”

To “make more arrests and stem the tide of cultism in the state,” the APC’s Ogun publicity secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, called on state security agencies in a statement.

“notable members of the ragtag PDP in the state are involved in cultism as high ranking members in their various local government areas,” Oladunjoye claims, and this is no longer just a rumor.

Further, he said, “We urge the security agencies to track and monitor the type of meetings the so-called honourable members are holding, hosting, and presiding over in their constituencies.”

After losing all of its cases at the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in the State, the PDP has resorted to a “high level of absurdity,” in Oladunjoye’s words, in an attempt to distract the Administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun.

According to Oladunjoye, the PDP “attempted to mischievously tag the APC” after the recent cult confrontations in Sagamu by using “preemptive paid advertisements” to stoke fear in the community.

The PDP “shamelessly tried to link its failure at the polls with the cult clashes,” according to the APC’s spokesman.

It was therefore ironic that the leading minds behind the Sagamu cult clash, having escaped Sagamu, would find shelter in the official quarters of a PDP House of Assembly member.

“In Ogun State, the cults and their backers are now reaping what they sowed. He urged security officials to “go all out” when the PDP cult’s “masks” were revealed.

Many people in Ogun State, according to the PDP Publicity Secretary in Ogun, Akinloye Bankole, are constantly on edge about where the next cult slaughter would take place.

Bankole mentioned the various cult killings that have taken place in the state over the past four years, saying, “Ogun State, whose development began to attract multiple investors that could make life abundant for its citizens, has gradually become a shadow of itself since the assumption of leadership by the current APC government.”

According to the PDP spokesman, security agencies have indicted members of the APC and those who hold political office for them on multiple counts.

He claims that the Speaker of the House of Assembly in Ogun State has been arrested and is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for misappropriating Assembly monies.

Bankole mentioned Bidemi Rufai, a former State Government appointee who was arrested in the US for a $350,000 fraud scheme.

“Like a popular saying, birds of a feather flock together, the same is the situation with several of APC, appointees who continue to bring disrepute to a state known for its uprightness,” he said, citing the case of Abiodun Abudu-Balogun, the former Commissioner for Environment who was asked to resign after a minor accused him of attempted rape and molestation.

Do we need a seer to inform us that Governor Abiodun and his party, APC, are the architects and masterminds of the current security crisis in Ogun State, given the foregoing and many more factors too numerous to mention?

“We therefore, as a party that is committed to the well-being and peaceful coexistence of the good people of Ogun State, pray that the wish of the people come to reality with the victory of the party and our candidate, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu at the tribunal,” he said.