The Senator representing the Ondo-South Senatorial District , Yele Omogunwa , was on Thursday allegedly assaulted by some residents of Okitipupa , the headquarters of Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State during a visit by Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo to the palace of the monarch of Idepe town , Oba Michael Adetoye .
Similarly , a member of the House of Representatives , representing the Idanre /Ifedore Federal Constituency, Mr Bamidele Baderinwa , was allegedly beaten by some youths in Idanre on Wednesday during Osinbajo ’ s visit to the traditional ruler of Idanre town.
It took the intervention of the security details of the Vice -President , who whisked the lawmaker away from the scene , to save the situation .
Omogunwa , who is the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming general elections , was said to be in the vice-president ’ s entourage when the incident happened .
It was gathered that angry youths carried out the attack .
One of the youths, who spoke on condition of anonymity , said , “ He ( senator ) was beaten because he neglected us in the senatorial district ; he carried out no constituency projects for the over three years we have elected him .
“ He does not have any constituency office in this town; he was not accessible , we couldn ’ t reach him for over three years; so what does he want here ? Election is coming now , so he wants to cajole us again , that will not be possible . ”
The vice- president had in the last three days visited the traditional rulers and market women in Akure , Ondo, Okitipupa , Idanre , Ileoluji and the Akoko area of the state.
During Osinbajo’ s visit to Ondo, the Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo, appealed to the VP to expedite action on the process of upgrading the Adeyemi College of Education , Ondo to a university of education and to dualise the Akure -Ondo- Ore road.
In his response, Osinbajo said all the requests of the traditional ruler would be looked into .
When contacted , House of Reps member, Mr Bamidele Baderinwa , who confirmed the incident said the development was worrisome as the nation was preparing for the 2019 general election . He called on the police to investigate the matter and bring the suspected political thugs to book .
He said , “ I call on the Inspector General of Police to arrest the perpetrators and brought them to book to serve as deterrent to others . ”
The state Chairman of the party, Mr Ade Adetimehin , however , said the party was not aware of the incident.
“ I am not aware of such an incident; I am just hearing it for the first time from you . ” Adetimehin stated .
Similarly , when contacted , the Public Relations Officer of the state police command , Mr Femi Joseph said the matter was not reported at any police station .
In his reaction , the media aide to the senator , Mr Jide Omogunwa , however said , the senator was not assaulted but was in the midst of some youths who were rowdy and pushing themselves over the money he wanted to give them .
He said , “ What happened was just a normal thing in politics ; at the event the youths came to ask for money. As he was trying to get them money, they thought he was trying to escape ; some of the youths were protecting him while some were pushing themselves . It doesn ’ t have any political undertone; it is a normal thing that can happen to politicians.
Source: Punchng
