Seven leaders of the Oyo State branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who were detained after being charged with causing a disruption of public peace, have regained their freedom.
They were freed after they perfected their bail conditions, the News Agency of Nigeria reported.
The seven included Mr Waheed Olojede, the State Chairman, Mr Titilayo Sodo, the Vice-Chairman, Mrs Kofo Ogundeji, the Secretary and Mr Kehinde Oparinde, the Auditor.
As the NLC leaders savoured their freedom, the All Progressives Congress(APC), Oyo State Chapter is seething with anger over the violent attacks against some of his members as well as its State Secretariat by some hoodlums.
The party accused opposition parties and some labour leaders of sponsoring the attacks.
This was contained in a statement signed by Mr Olawale Sadare, the party’s Director of Publicity and Strategy and made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Monday.
It said that the suspected sponsors had done so to stage violent protests against the government of Gov. Abiola Ajimobi, ostensibly over a proposed education initiative of the governor.
According to the statement, “ Some pupils in their scores were mobilised out of their respective classrooms in some public secondary schools in Ibadan on Monday morning by a group of ‘politician-teachers sympathetic to the Accord Party.
“They moved round the city with cudgels, broken bottles and other dangerous weapons as they chanted political and anti-government songs.’’
The statement said that the party had fingered the opposition elements and some members of the labour movement in the state as the sponsor of the hoodlums which attacked its members and vandalized properties estimated at several millions of Naira at its Oke-Ade secretariat.
“At about few minutes past eleven in the morning, hoodlums which comprised of some public secondary school students as well as some disgruntled members of the NLC/NUT and the opposition party- Accord stormed our party State Secretariat at Oke-Ado.
“They began to vandalize everything on sight. They also beat up some members of staff, who had to be treated for varying degrees of injury sustained in the hands of the attackers before they were dispersed by the security agents.
“The attacking hoodlums were harmed with stones, broken-bottles, cudgels, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons with which they attacked innocent people on sight and vandalize the entire properties harboring the Executive members and staff of the APC.
“Also attacked was some private business interests. Yet-to-be estimated valuables were either destroyed or looted during the attacks which lasted about 30 minutes,’’ the statement read in part.
The statement said that the leadership of the party was still in shock over the development, saying that they never expected violent political attacks of the days of the PDP in the state between 2003 and 2011 to resurface.
It said that laudable handling of security issues by the present administration would not have made anyone to expect such in the state.
The APC condemned the violent protest and attacks in all its ramifications, appealling for calm among the peace loving people of the state, who were also disturbed by the antics of the regrouping miscreants.
“We, therefore, call on the State Police Command and other security agencies to investigate the incident thoroughly with a view to bringing the perpetrators and their sponsors to book.
“On the other hand, we make a passionate appeal to the labour movement and other concerned groups to sheathe their sword and toe the line of dialogue.
“They should embrace dialogue, which is popular in every democratic society like ours, in resolving whatever issues they might have with the state government,’’ it added.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that some secondary school pupils in the state had thronged the streets of the metropolis in their hundreds, singing anti-government songs in protest against the perceived plan of government to sell their schools.
Some of the students, who spoke to NAN made four demands from the state government, among which was the payment of the six outstanding salaries owed their teachers and withdrawal of the levy imposed on them.
Also in the demands was that government should rescind its decision to sell their schools, likewise the unconditional release of the labour leaders in the police custody.