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2027: Attacks on our candidates won’t stop your defeat, Alli campaign tells Makinde, APM
The Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO) has condemned the attacks on candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during campaign activities in Ibadan on Wednesday, warning Governor Seyi Makinde and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) governorship candidate, Hon. Bimbo Adekanmbi, that the incidents would not stop the party from campaigning across Oyo State.
Hoodlums attacked the APC candidate for Oyo South Senatorial District, Hon. Aderemi Oseni, and the party’s candidate for the Ibadan North-West/Ibadan South-West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Folake Olunloyo-Oshinowo, during separate campaign events at Agbaje Market, Orita-Merin, and Idi-Arere.
Political thugs also attacked Alhaja Tawakalitu Alli, wife of the APC governorship candidate, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, during a medical outreach she organised at Ibikunle House, Ayeye, Ibadan, on the same day.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the campaign’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bisi Oladele, warned Makinde and Adekanmbi against further attacks on APC candidates, saying such incidents would not deter the party from engaging voters across the state.
The campaign said the APC would continue to take its message to the people, adding that attacks on its candidates would not stop the imminent defeat of Adekanmbi and other APM candidates in the 2027 general elections.
It also said Makinde, as the Chief Security Officer of Oyo State, had a responsibility to protect all candidates and residents irrespective of their political affiliations.
According to the statement, the governor must take concrete steps to prevent violence and ensure the protection of lives and property throughout the electioneering period.
“Attacks on our candidates should stop forthwith. No party has a monopoly of violence,” it said.
The campaign, however, warned that APC candidates would be forced to protect themselves if the attacks continued.
“If these attacks persist, our candidates will have no choice but to defend themselves against these marauding thugs,” the statement said.
SSACO also called for an issue-based campaign, urging political parties and their candidates to focus on presenting their programmes and policies to the electorate rather than resorting to violence.
“The campaign should be issue-based, with every party outlining their programmes for the masses, as Senator Alli is doing,” it said.
The organisation urged the Inspector-General of Police and the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State to investigate the attacks, identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
It also called on Makinde to “call his APM thugs to order,” insisting that the APC and its candidates would not be intimidated by the attacks.
