Gunmen Shoot PDP Supporters In Oyo

The state Police Commissioner, Baba Adisa Bolanta had told reporters that the killing of Adegbile was politically motivated.

Already, one of the victims, The Guardian learnt may eventually lose one of his legs, which was said to have been badly battered.

The gunmen, numbering about four were said to have arrived at the campaign office of Ilka, who is eyeing the Oyo Central Senatorial seat in a blue BMW car around 8p.m and shot the victims who were waiting by the roadside to get a motorcycle (a.k.a Okada).

Afolabi in his account of the incident to reporters said, “we were waiting beside the road to get an okada to take us home when I saw a blue BMW station wagon car, without number plate, parked beside the road. Four men were in it. I just heard one of them say, ‘these are the boys’, and immediately one of them sitting in front just got down and removed the rifle he hung on his neck and shot my colleague in the left leg. Hearing the shot, and seeing him fall, I saw that he was about to shoot me also, and I jumped up to avoid being hit. But the bullet hit me also on my left leg. I fell. Immediately, the gunman entered the car and the driver sped off. They were shooting along to scare away people”.

He ruled out the probability that the incident was an armed robbery case, saying the gunmen had earlier accosted a woman selling wares opposite the campaign office asking to know their whereabouts.

“The woman said we were likely to have gone home. They then moved into her shop with a gun and asked her to lie face down. They collected the money she was counting and later came out to switch off her generating set. It was while they were waiting in the car that we unconsciously moved out and saw the car parked. It was immediately they sighted us that we were attacked. They were not robbers, but they came for us because they had asked for us from the woman by mentioning our names,” Afolabi said.

The Guardian learnt that Owolafe who was initially treated at a private hospital in Oyo has since been moved to another one for further treatment.

According to Kehinde Ilaka, a younger brother to the senatorial aspirant, “many bullets were extracted from Owolafe’s leg and had to be moved … for surgery because the bones in the leg were badly shattered by the bullets”.

When contacted, the Oyo State command Police Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Okuwobi said she was on casual leave while several calls to the mobile phone of the police commissioner were not answered.