27th March, 2015
Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta
Ogun State Police Command on Thursday confirmed that one person was shot by unknown gunmen on Wednesday after the political rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ogun East Senatorial candidate, Prince Buruj Kashamu at Okun-Owa town in Odogbolu local government area of Ogun State.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Deputy Superintendent of Police,DSP Ademuyiwa Adejobi confirmed the incident, adding that, no suspect has been arrested so far.
An eyewitness claimed that security operatives attached to Kashamu’s convoy allegedly shot the victim.
The victim, who was simply identified as ‘Bembe-Bembe’, was later rushed to Babcock University Teaching Hospital Ilisha-Remo in Ikenne local government area of the state for treatment.
The eyewitness who preferred not to be named said the incident happened in ward 3, Okun-Owa, along Sabo market in the town.
It was also gathered that many people sustained various degree of injuries while trying to flee for safety during the sporadic gunshot by the security attaches of the Ijebu Igbo-born business man turned politician.
According to the eyewitness, ”the campaign team of the Senatorial candidate was done with the campaign when a vehicle in the convoy allegedly shot a passer-by.
“People in the area reacted to the incident and attempted to block the convoy as they refused to wait to attend to the boy that was hit by one of their vehicles, but they were repelled by security operatives and personal security men attached to the politicians.
“Some of Kashamu’s boys who dressed in black vest started shooting sporadically into the air to scare the people. The people, subsequently, took to their heels for safety of their lives. In the process, the gunshot hit a man and the bullet pierced through his stomach”, the eyewitness narrated.
While confirming the incident to our correspondent, the State Police spokesman revealed that the victim was recuperating in the hospital.
He added that the State Commissioner of Police has directed that a thorough investigation be carried out on the matter.
“We had the report of unidentified gunmen after the rally, we can’t get anybody for now, but we are going to do thorough investigation into the matter.
“The victim is in the hospital, recuperating and responding to treatment, but we are unable to identify the perpetrators who fired the shot, but we are going to spread our tentacles to get them,” Adejobi stated.
When our correspondent contacted the Director-General of the Campaign Organisation, Otunba Leke Adekoya to comment on the incident, he denied that such incident happened during the campaign.
Adekoya who spoke through phone conversation, simply said, “nothing like that happened, we didn’t record any such case during our rallies,” he responded.