The local government election in Ondo State on Saturday was marred by violence in Ajowa-Akoko, a community in the Akoko North-West Local Government Area.
Reports indicate that unrest broke out in Ajowa following attempts to pressure voters, primarily supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC), into backing an opposition candidate.
According to Daily Post, a source named Sesan alleged that a minister from the state was behind the anti-party activities. He claimed the minister used his influence to deploy security personnel who allegedly interfered with the electoral process.
Sesan explained that the crisis began in Ward 5 when an APC leader, acting on the minister’s orders, directed voters to abandon the party’s councillorship candidate, Toye, and instead support an opposition candidate.
In response, angry residents, including youths and women, barricaded roads leading into the town with various objects and lit bonfires.
The situation escalated as several individuals sustained injuries. Security forces attempted to disperse the protesting residents by using teargas, but the community stood firm in their resolve to defend their electoral rights.
Akoko North-West belongs to all of us, and we must resist any attempt to turn it into a theatre of personal vendettas and political hegemony. The use of state machinery to disrupt elections and intimidate party members is a gross abuse of power that must not go unchallenged.
“We are calling on the appropriate authorities to immediately investigate the minister’s anti-party activities and his role in the violence and disruptions in Ajowa Ward 5. Evidence of his involvement is available and will be presented to support this call for justice,” another source said.
Also, the former special adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on special duties, Gani Muhammed Ajowa, stated: “The minister was blamed for working against the political party that made him. He provided money and deployed operatives of a department of the ministry he superintended as a minister.”
