Chaos erupted in Osogbo, Osun State, on Tuesday when a group of commercial drivers clashed violently with supporters of the state park management chairman, Wakili Nurudeen, over allegations of extortion.
The conflict escalated into a fierce gunfight, leading to serious injuries on both sides. Wakili Nurudeen himself was attacked and hospitalized at an undisclosed location.
The turmoil, which took place in the evening, spread across several key areas, including the Park Management System Secretariat and major parks in Osogbo, as well as Oke-Baale, Ilesa Garage, Sadiat, and Oke-Ayepe. The scene was marked by heavy gunfire, stabbings, and the use of various dangerous weapons, resulting in numerous injuries among the combatants.
Due to heavy sporadic shootings, residents of the area ran for cover while commercial activities were hurriedly brought to a halt and every other road users abandoned their vehicles and motorbikes on the main road to ensure their safety.
During the fracas, the irate commercial drivers, and some executive officers of the park management system said to have unleashed terror on the chairman leading to injuries substance on his neck and a hand.
Earlier, the aggrieved drivers had staged a peaceful protest around Olaiya area of Osogbo to demand for removal of the chairman whom they accused of using Governor Ademola Adeleke’s name to extort from them and at the same stealing their monies.
While addressing the protesters, their spokesperson who is a former Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers who identified himself as “SA to Park Management Chairman”, Morounkade Akinade said, “When the governor (Ademola Adeleke) wanted to become the Asiwaju of Ede Land, he (Nurudeen) said each of the 8 groups in Osun State should bring N150,000 which amounted to N1.2 million.
“So, he is very fond of collecting money with the name of Adeleke’s family. If anyone challenges him, he will threaten such a person. So, we decided that we didn’t want him again, he is not capable, he didn’t have experience and when we tried to correct him, he refused blatantly.
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“The government gave us ticket, but he refused to remit money to them. We opposed him then, but he threatened to kill us. He even beat our members and we have sent the pictures to the DSS for investigation.
“We don’t want him again as our state chairman, the members are from Ife, Modakeke, Sekona, Ilesa, Ila, Ode-Omu, Gbongan and Oke-Ila, they are all here at our state secretariat. We are at the secretariat now and they are threatening us with guns. They said they will kill us.”
However, Waikiki debunked the allegation he described as untrue during an interview with newsmen saying, the irate Park members had hated him since NURTW was abolished in the state and replaced with Osun Park Management System.
Narrating his ordeal on how he was allegedly attacked, he remarked, “I saw that some hoodlums gathered and blocked me on the road, two of them were our former members. They attacked and stabbed me. They shot at my car and my car is still at the place where they damaged it. The Police have seen the evidence too.
“It is not true that I am not approachable to members. I am not a lion. It is only a lion that would be leading and no one would dare to advise him. They are the enemies of government. They are not pleased with the park management system that government formed. I am not the one they are against, they are against government because they are members of the national union. ”
“Government has said that throughout Osun State, it is Park Management System that it formed, of which I am the leader. The other side that wanted to upstage the government of Adeleke are the ones attacking me. Arogundade Wasiu, (aka Aroso), is one of them. Also, Moronkade Jelili is also one of them and Moshood Olawale, (aka Lion), Olamilekan Emir Ajagungbade and others.”
“It is not true that when Governor wanted to be honoured with Asiwaju Ede title, I collected money from all branches but did not deliver the money. The branch chairmen are here and they can say if I collected money from them. It is the theft they are committing of which we stopped them for, that made them to want to create a parallel authority against the government”
Meanwhile, calm has returned to the troubled zone as security operatives now took over the scene.
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