Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has accused the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, of masterminding the orgy of violence and thuggery in the state.
He alleged that the violence and thuggery, which characterised PDP’s primaries whereby part of the venue, the Dome, was destroyed, would no longer be tolerated.
He said his administration was disturbed and appealed to the PDP to exercise restraint in the deployment of violence and thuggery.
The governor said he would not hesitate to deploy the full weight of the law to protect the citizens.
Akeredolu, who spoke through his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, said it was unacceptable and unimaginable that politicians would want to use violence to achieve personal aims.
He said he received credible reports that there was threat to lives and property during the PDP primary election held last Wednesday.
Akeredolu noted that recent trend of violence in the state was orchestrated following last Tuesday’s alleged attack on the home of his Special Adviser on Works and Infrastructure, Alhaji Raheem Aminu.
He said his aide escaped narrowly, but Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) captured the invaders’ activities.
The governor said: “As a responsible government, we are appealing to politicians to eschew violence because what we witnessed on the day of the PDP primary still remains unacceptable to us. Our administration will not tolerate such any longer.
“We are appealing to the people not to repeat events of 1983 as some people have threatened. We don’t want to go back to that period.
The contest must be seen to be a very peaceful one. It must be seen to be a brotherly one. We are appealing to everybody to eschew violence.”
On his reconciliation move in the APC, Akeredolu said nothing would be spared to ensure peace returned to the Ondo APC.
He said he had been pursuing peace and was happy that all leaders in the party had put behind them the primary election, placing premium on the interest of the APC.
The governor noted that his reconciliation pursuit showed that he wanted to build a formidable APC and wanted everybody to be on board before the election.
