BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Osogbo, Osun State, on Friday discharged and acquitted some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress of the attempted murder, assault and breach of peace allegations slammed against them by the police in the state.
Those discharged are Rasaq Salinsile, the factional chairman of the party; a former state chairman of the party, Reverend Adelowo Adebiyi; former Commissioner for Works and Transport, Kazeem Salami; former Commissioner for Youth, Sport and Special Needs, Biyi Odunlade; former Special Adviser to the Governor on Taxation, Gbenga Akano; and two APC members from Ilesa and Osogbo, Alaba Popoola and Azeez Adekunle respectively.
The arraigned politicians, loyalists of Rauf Aregbesola and members of The Osun Progressives, were said to have committed attempted murder, assault and breach of peace during the sitting of the Ward Congress Appeal Committee on August 14, 2021.
Specifically, they were accused of attacking some members of the party, loyal to Oyetola’s Ilerioluwa group.
When the matter was mentioned on Friday, O. F. Akintayo, counsel from the state Ministry of Justice, informed the court that the state had taken it over from the police. He, therefore, applied for the withdrawal of the case.
The defence counsel, led by Gbenga Awosode, did not oppose the application.
In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Olusegun Ayilara, struck out the case, and discharged and acquitted the seven accused persons.
Meanwhile, The Osun Progressives has demanded an apology from Governor Oyetola and the Commissioner of Police in the state, Wale Olokode, for what it described as the malicious damage done to the reputation of the affected leaders of the party.
On the dismissal of the case, the Chairman of the caucus, Adelowo Adebiyi, said an unreserved public apology through the media, was required to mitigate the effect of the ‘frivolous allegations’ leveled against them.
