A former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Segun Showunmi, has narrated how he was attacked on Monday at the sitting of the Ogun State election petition tribunal in Abeokuta.
Mr Showunmi blamed the attack on thugs he associated with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The PDP chieftain narrated his experience at a press conference later.
He explained that he was in court in solidarity with his party and its governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, at the first hearing of their petition challenging the reelection of Governor Dapo Abiodun of the APC.
“I alighted at a reasonable distance from the courthouse because I knew that parking would be a problem, and I proceeded to walk. As I moved towards the environment, I had seen some type of terrible characters that in a decent society, they should be in prison, milling around and driving all over the place. Some of them are fairly known operators who play around their parks and garages.
“I approached the court gate, and it was locked and. I realised that there was no room in the court anymore, and I simply turned back. As I made to leave, a horde of murderers descended on me, bringing out cudgels and whips; they brought out guns, and they were generally misbehaving. Luckily, a security vehicle was not too far of, and I entered the security vehicle to make my way to leave,” Mr Sowunmi narrated.
The politician said he could not recollect any time in the history of Ogun State where “brigandage, misbehaviour, thuggery, criminality, marauders and murderers” were elevated to that level.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to check thuggery in the state, stressing that, “not even under Muhammadu Buhari has brigandage been tolerated to the level that we are beginning to see it now.”
Mr Showunmi, one of Atiku Abubakar’s spokespersons in the 2019 election, accused the police at the court of “standing by helpless as though they did not understand that they have the responsibility to keep the peace.
“I kept asking myself, how could they have been watching APC thugs hold guns and sticks?
“I was asking myself, when did Ogun State become a place where thugs are sent for the opening day of a tribunal? How does it become fashionable for you to mobilise miscreants to the tribunal?”
Relocate tribunal to Abuja
Mr Showunmi urged the Court of Appeal to relocate the tribunal to Abuja to avoid further attacks on PDP members.
“Our position is that, the President of the Court of Appeal, in his wisdom, should please relocate the Ogun State election tribunal from Abeokuta because it is no longer safe so that we can go and have that tribunal in the peaceful atmosphere of Abuja and everybody can have the case adjudicated, and we can deal with the outcome of the court cases.
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