Akala

No fewer than 18 persons were wounded yesterday when supporters of Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and former Governor
Rashidi Ladoja clashed in Ibadan.

Cutlasses, clubs, knives, broken bottles and charms were freely used in the fight.

Passers-by ran helter-skelter. Vehicle owners made u-turn right on the road to avoid attack in the melee.

It all happened at a rally at the Yemetu Police Ground.

Deputy Governor Taofeek Arapaja and former Governor Kolapo Ishola, among others were at the rally organised by a former
House of Representatives member, Tayo Sarumi, who is loyal to Ladoja.

Sarumi is eyeing the Oyo South Senatorial seat in 2011. The seat is presently occupied by the son of the late Ibadan
politician, Senator Kamorudeen Adedibu .

Many vehicles were vandalised in the melee.

Some supporters of Alao-Akala fingered loyalists of the factional Chairman of the state chapter of the National Union of
Road Transport Workers {NURTW}, Alhaji Lateef Akinsola a.k.a. Tokyo as
perpetrators of the violence.

They accused Tokyo’s men who they claimed were hired to attack Sarumi’s supporters.

But, Tokyo who spoke on phone with The Nation denied the allegation. He said his members should be excused from anything that has to do with politics.

No arrest has been made by the police. The injured have been hospitalised.