OYO SPEAKER, MINORITY LEADER, OTHERS DEFECT
OYO
SPEAKER, MINORITY LEADER, OTHERS DEFECT
Oyo Assembly
chamber
The Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly,
Olagunju Ojo, the minority leader, and five other lawmakers on Tuesday defected
to three different parties.
The clerk
of the house, Paul Bankole, read the separate letters of defection by the
lawmakers during the plenary session in Ibadan.
The News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the speaker (Labour Party-Orire), Wunmi
Oladeji ( Labour Party-Ogbomoso North) and Solomon Olukayode (Labour
Party-Ogbomoso South) defected to All Progressives Congress (APC).
Gbenga
Oyekola ( Labour Party-Atiba) and Peter Oyetunji (Labour Party-Ogo
Oluwa/Surulere) defected to African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) respectively.
The
minority leader, Ademola Ige (Accord Party-Ibadan South-East II) and Fatai
Adesina (Accord Party-Ibadan South-East I) defected to ADC.
Meanwhile,
the house has appealed to the commissioner of police in the state, Abiodun
Odude, to make conscious efforts to put a stop to gang-related crimes and
violence in Oyo town.
The assembly
also urged the commissioner to deploy competent police units to tackle the
activities of criminal gangs.
This
followed a matter of urgent public importance raised by Muideen Olagunju
(Accord Party-Oyo East/Oyo West) during the plenary.
According
to Mr Olagunju, the dramatic upsurge in gang warfare within the town has
resulted in residents living in fear as well as property damage and deaths.
“The acts
of violence are traceable to battle for supremacy among bands of youth in
certain black spots within the town.
“During these battles of attrition, the gangs engage in spates of physical
attacks, maiming, property damage, looting and sadly, killings.
“More
often than not, innocent citizens bear the brunt of these acts of violence
especially in Agunpopo, Balogun, Apara, Apinni, Ilaka, Akesan Motor Park, Iseke
and Tengbe.
“It calls
for concern that in spite of the fact that Oyo town and its environs have four
Divisional Police Headquarters, one Area Command as well as a unit of SARS, it
appears the gangs are controllable with low rate of arrests and prosecution of
offenders,” he said.
The
Speaker directed the house committee on security and special duties to convene,
charge and monitor relevant authorities to act swiftly to curtail violence.
(NAN)
