The police have released Osun State Commissioner for Environment, Mayowa Adejoorin, after almost 24 hours in detention.
Adejoorin was arrested in Ilesa on Saturday following a shooting in the community’s Isokun sector, which injured three persons.
At least three individuals were injured in a shooting in Ilesa, Osun State, on Saturday during a street rally by members of the All Progressives Congress’s Ilesa West Local Government Area chapter.
Tobi Ilesanmi, a 14-year-old boy, was among those injured. He was reportedly shot near the scene of the event in Ilesa’s Isokun district.
The incident, however, has sparked a blame game between the APC and the Accord Party, following the arrest of Mayowa Adejoorin, the Osun State Commissioner for Environment, who was reportedly going through Ilesa following the crisis.
Adejoorin was reportedly apprehended by police and taken to the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force’s Osun State Command in Osogbo, the state capital.
In a phone conversation with our correspondent on Saturday, Abiodun Ojelabi, spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, stated that three people were injured during the shooting and claimed that the incident was carried out by Amotekun Corps operatives in a vehicle bearing an official Osun State Government number plate.
“Three persons are confirmed injured, and they were taken to different hospitals. From the reports we have, they were shot at the rally scene. There was a rally in some part of Ilesa by the APC.
“The rally was on when they discovered a vehicle parked beside them bearing a particular plate number, OSHAO4, and some people identified as Amotekun personnel came out of the car and shot sporadically, and everybody ran for safety.
“So some brave men among those that were doing the rally chased those Amotekun personnel passengers. The one they were able to catch drew out a knife and tried to stab anyone who came close to him, and he used that opportunity to escape,” he said.
He stated that once the incident was reported to the police, some intelligence response team members stationed near the area reacted to the distress call.
Ojelabi went on to say that while on their route to the scene of the incident, IRT agents noticed Adejoorin’s vehicle and pulled him over.
“We already have our tactical teams on the ground. We have over four IRT tactical teams on the ground posted to different locations. So the IRT that was closer to that place responded to that incident. On getting to the scene, they saw a vehicle that was approaching them, a white Lexus 350.
“On intercepting the vehicle, they saw Amotekun personnel in the vehicle. So they apprehended the vehicle, the personnel, and one other person in the vehicle. They brought them straight to the headquarters here. On interrogation, it was discovered that the other occupant is the Honourable Mayowa Adejoorin.
“So they brought them to Osogbo for questioning to know the level of involvement in this incident because the exhibits recovered at the scene of that shooting are four expended cartridges, and the gun recovered from the Amotekun is a pump-action gun. So the investigation is ongoing,” Ojelabi said.
However, while speaking to the press on the incident, the Head of the APC Campaign Council for Ilesa West, Folarin Fafowora, explained that the rally was about to be concluded when the incident occurred.
Fafowora said, “We were almost rounding up when, suddenly, a car overtook us. The occupant of the car was the Chief Whip of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Wale Akerele. I was even surprised that people were embracing him, but before I could know what was happening, there was a gunshot. To my disbelief, people started running here and there. I couldn’t believe it.
“Then he left, and people immediately started scrambling for safety. As we got to the roundabout around the Isokun area, the panic and confusion among the people had really disrupted the rally.
“From nowhere, they suddenly came out of the vehicle and started shooting. In fact, I had to hide to avoid being hit. By the time I regained my consciousness, hell had already been let loose.
“But somehow, because of the Amotekun vehicles that were escorting him, he disappeared almost immediately. It was very shocking.
“The policemen were there when he came back, while they were shooting. He was being protected by the Amotekun personnel, and they were also shooting.”
The spokesperson for the Imole Campaign Council, Pelumi Olajengbesi, while reacting to the allegations against Akerele in a chat with journalists on Saturday, said, “The video of Ilesa shooting is all over the place. Members of the APC were shooting in the name of the rally, destroying properties that belong to the Accord members. They destroyed the Accord Party secretariat, and the videos are all over the place.”
In a phone chat with newsmen on Sunday, Ojelabi, the public relations officer of the Osun Police Command, verified Adejoorin’s release.
Ojelabi could not confirm whether the Amotekun operative arrested alongside Adejoorin had been released.
When questioned if Adejoorin had been released, Ojelabi responded simply, “The commissioner has been released. He was released today, but I cannot confirm the release of Amotekun, who was arrested with him, because I am still gathering my facts.”
