Rabiu Ismaila, a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), was attacked and stabbed by thugs, alongside some other party members, for putting up campaign posters for a candidate for the House of Representatives in the Atakunmosa East Local Government Area of Osun State.
According to The Nation, several Labour Party members in the Ijeshaland communities of Owode, Igangan, and Olopon have regularly complained of continuous attacks.
They asserted that they had experienced more than three attacks in a single week.
According to the Chieftain, Ismaila, “I am still receiving treatments at Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa after I was hacked by PDP political thugs. The thugs are from Iwara. I was attacked on November 30th by six of those thugs. I was attacked because I pasted the posters of Labour Party House of Representatives candidate, Kunle Gideon, popularly known as Aloba. That is my only offence. We are living in fear in that area.”
According to a second victim, the same thugs who attacked Ismaila returned to attack more party members late Thursday night at around 11 o’clock in the village of Olopon Ajegunle.
The victim said: “They came to my house; forced their way inside and started destroying my property. Thank God we were able to escape. One of the persons that came to attack us is Tayo, notoriously known as Ijoba. The policemen in our area are not capable of handling these guys.”
In response to the attacks, the state’s chairman of the Labor Party, Comrade Bello Adebayo, urged Sunday Faleye, commissioner of police, to apprehend and bring charges against all of the thugs who assaulted the party members.