Tension has gripped parts of Osun State following the killing of Kolade Eluyera, said to be the son of the women leader of the Accord Party in Irewole Local Government Area.
The incident, which reportedly occurred late on Friday near Onireke Mosque in Ikire, has sparked accusations and counter-accusations between supporters of Governor Ademola Adeleke and the opposition All Progressives Congress.
Confirming the development on Saturday, the spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, Abiodun Ojelabi, said the victim’s lifeless body was recovered with gunshot wounds.
“Investigation is on and the Commissioner of Police has deployed more men to the area. We are working with those who brought the corpse to get more information,” Ojelabi said.
Reacting to the killing, the Imole Campaign Council, which is coordinating Adeleke’s re-election campaign, called for a thorough investigation into the incident.
The council’s spokesperson, Pelumi Olajengbesi, alleged in a statement that the attack was carried out by suspected political thugs linked to the APC.
Olajengbesi claimed that several security alerts and complaints bordering on intimidation, harassment and attacks against Accord Party members in Irewole Local Government had earlier been reported to security agencies without decisive action.
“What is unfolding in Osun State is becoming dangerously alarming, condemnable and a direct threat to constitutional democracy, public peace and political freedom,” he said.
He further alleged that the continued silence and slow response of security agencies despite repeated reports of politically motivated violence had heightened fears among residents and political stakeholders.
The campaign council condoled with the family of the deceased and called on the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services and other security agencies to launch an independent investigation into the killing.
However, the allegation was dismissed by the co-chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee of the Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji Governorship Election Campaign Council, Kola Olabisi.
Olabisi described the claims against the APC as baseless and urged the police to be allowed to carry out a proper investigation to identify those behind the attack.
He accused the Adeleke campaign organisation of politicising the incident for political gain.
“Loading the death of a young man on some members of our party by the Adeleke re-election campaign council was frivolous, fabricated and a ploy to call a dog a bad name in order to hang it,” Olabisi said.
He added that the APC governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, was a peaceful politician who could not be associated with violence.
Police authorities said investigation into the killing was ongoing.
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