There is growing tension in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State as the Executive Chairman, Engr. Akeem Olatunji has been accused of mobilizing suspected Park Management System (PMS) operatives to assault party faithful as some of the councilors can not sleep at their respective houses again over threat to lives.
According to a source who spoke to OYOMIND anonymously, Engr. Akeem Olatunji has been selling lands illegally at the Ibadan Toll Gate, Idi-Ayunre, and the entire Oluyole. This was said to have been the reason he used the PMS operatives to assault and threaten some councilors under him who spoke to him over the Illegal sales of lands in the axis of the state.
It was stated that the situation escalated when the chairman allegedly invited PMS operatives to the area to intimidate and beat up members who opposed his action. A serving councillor, who resisted the move, was reportedly assaulted by the Chief of Staff to the chairman and narrowly escaped being macheted by the PMS boys. “He was lucky to have been whisked away by unknown persons”, the source said.
It was further gathered that the councillor is now facing a six-month suspension plan being allegedly spearheaded by the chairman and backed by four other councillors whom he had settled with land in compensation, including the fact that the councillor cannot sleep in a place as the PMS boys are tracking him everywhere on the instruction of the Oluyole Local Government Chairman.
Observers have described the move as politically motivated and an attempt to silence the councillor for speaking out against alleged misconduct in the council.
According to the embattled councillor, the chairman has been engaging in illegal land sales under the guise of council business. Under Akeem Olatunji’s chairmanship, councillors have only been paid their salaries without receiving any other allowances or incentives since their assumption into office.
“We have endured a lot in silence. Apart from our salaries, we’ve received nothing. Yet, we see lands being sold indiscriminately and the proceeds unaccounted for,” he said.
The crisis has reportedly thrown the Oluyole into political disarray, with stakeholders calling for urgent intervention from the Oyo State Government and party leadership. They warned that the issue if not promptly addressed, could further polarise the party in the local government ahead of future elections.
Efforts to reach Engr. Olatunji and his Chief of Staff for comments proved abortive at the time of filing this report.
Party elders and community leaders are now appealing to Governor Seyi Makinde and the Oyo State PDP hierarchy to wade into the matter and ensure justice is served to prevent a total breakdown of law and order in the area.
