Negative
security reports may explain why
prominent members of the Osun State Government and other chieftains of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), stayed away
from the burial rites of Senator
Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke on Monday.
Indications to
this effect emerged yesterday, even as Ede, home town of the first civilian
governor of the state, still seethed with rage and despondency over the passage
of the politician.
A violent
protest erupted at the late politician’s burial over suspicion that he was
poisoned by political opponents, with his supporters attacking and almost
mobbing a commissioner –nominee of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Idiat Babalola,
perceived to be working against Adeleke’s political interests.
Cross sections
of Ede community insisted yesterday that Adeleke was killed to abort his
ambition to become next governor of Osun by 2018 and right some perceived
wrongs and injustice against Edeland by Aregbesola’s government.
The late
senator was said to have started reviving his awesome political machinery in
preparation for a come-back in next year’s governorship election in the state,
a move said not to be popular with some powerful stakeholders in his party and
government.
Ede indigenes
who spoke with Daily Sun during a visit to the town yesterday were angry at
the absence of top officials of the
state government including Governor Aregbesola, his deputy, Titi Laoye-Tomori
and the secretary to the state government.
But, it was
learnt that the governor was away in China. Sources said his deputy too may
have been advised against making the trip, following the acrimony generated by
allegation that Adeleke was poisoned at a party he attended with other party
stalwarts on Saturday. Some indigenes of the town had warned that they did not wish to see any government
party at the funeral.
A source said
Mrs. Laoye Tomori was actually preparing for the funeral, but was dissuaded by
his security details, who said the mood in the town and threatened violence,
may precipitate a crisis, which could
escalate and embarrassingly turn bloody, even if security agents tried to
shield her and disperse the crowd.
The source
said the Monday incident in which Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun and
Adeleke’s brother, were not spared in their effort to rescue Babalola,
vindicated the deputy governor’s judgment.
As the three-day mourning declared in his honour by
the state government entered the second day today, the people of Ede said
Adeleke’s death had dealt a serious blow to the community and its aspirations.
“ Now, we have nobody to represent and speak for us or defend our interest at
the national level…Our hope is that he will become the next governor and help
solve all the problems we have with the present government in the state”,
lamented a prominent leader of thought in the town.
He listed
among the problems, a dispute over the alleged attempted annexation of Abere,
the seat of government, which, he claimed, belonged to Edeland to Osogbo by the
Aregbesola administration for alleged political motive.
Governor
Aregbesola’s spokesman, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon could not be reached for comments
yesterday as he was not around when Daily Sun called at his office. Once
reached on phone, he promised to call the reporter back in five minutes, but
did not do so by press time.
APC spokesman,
Kunle Oyatomi, declined further comments on political insinuations about the
tragedy, saying the party had already formally issued a statement in which it
expressed its genuine shock at the loss of one of its big chieftains. He noted
that nerves were frayed at the moment, but would expectedly calm when Governor
Aregbesola who is expected back in the country today, returned.
Amid tension
in the town, the Chief Imam of Ede, Mas’ud Husain Akajewole, sued for peace. He
observed that the townfolk’s reaction was understandable in view of what Adeleke meant to them, but
urged them, as believers, to eschew fomenting trouble, and see Adeleke’s demise
as fated.
Meanwhile, the
controversy over the senator’s death lingers. The state Commissioner of Police
told reporters he was yet to be briefed on the arrest and investigation of a
doctor, who allegedly prescribed a medication that may have caused the
politician’s death.
The autopsy
report was also still being expected, amid another speculation that the late
Adeleke probably died of heart attack, the sun news reported .
Meanwhile,
Edeland wore a mournful look, with social and commercial activities at a low
ebb.
The paramount
ruler, the Timi of Ede and his council of chiefs just rose from a meeting when
Daily Sun visited the palace yesterday.
An aide of the
Oba said the monarch was in no mood to talk, as he was still mourning Adeleke,
the Asiwaju of Edeland. “You can see that tension is still high. Some of your
colleagues who were here were beaten upand had their cameras smashed. You
should understand” he told the reporter.
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