The Peoples Democracy Party (PDP) leader who was physically assaulted by members of his party for refusing to distribute money allegedly received from President Goodluck Jonathan has narrated his ordeal.
Last week, the South West Zonal Secretary of the party, Chief Pegba Otemolu, was almost lynched by about 708 PDP campaign co-ordinators drawn from the 236 wards across Ogun State.
According to the Premium Times, Mr. Otemolu, at a press conference at the PDP secretariat in Abeokuta on Saturday, denied collecting any money from the presidency or the campaign headquarters of the party in Abuja.
“I’m here to let the whole world know that I’m a loyal and honest member of our great party and at no time, anybody in the party, right from the National Secretariat of our party or the Presidency has given me one kobo,” he said.
The party leader said he met with the national leadership of the Presidential Organization Committee (on) Mass Mobilization headed by Prof. Jerry Gana last week. The organization arranged a national training tagged ‘Operation Win Your Ward”.
He added that representatives from all the states attended the training and that he and two others -Adepegba Otemolu and Dapo Adeyemi – represented Ogun State PDP.
After the training was over, “all the materials in terms of educational materials were handed over to them so that they’ll go back to the state and organize the same training for three persons per ward”.
“The training programme was to take place last Monday, the 16th but Jerry Gana sent a text message to me that due to non-availability of funds, the training programme should be rescheduled for Wednesday 18th of March and that willy-nilly, the fund for the training programme would be made available,” he said.
According to Mr. Otemolu, he called the chief organizer, Dapo Adeyemi, and said him that “we should not go ahead with the training since the fund has not been made available”.
Later, the national auditor who is my superior officer, Alhaji Wole Adeyanju, called Mr. Otemolu, saying that he had just landed at Murtala Airport, and that the training must go on whether I like it or not.
The crisis which led to the assault on Mr. Otemolu started several hours after he made accreditation of 756 attended, gave a lecture on the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan at Imperial Hotel, Quarry Road.
“But at the end, around 2 p.m., we had not received one kobo from the national committee headed by Jerry Gana. Then I called the national auditor who is the most senior person, please address our people. Tell them that the funds for the honorarium has not been made available. They should exercise patience as soon as the money is available, it would be given to their local government coordinators,” he said.
“Before he finished that statement, there was an uproar and they started throwing chairs. They said unless they were given money, none of us would leave the venue. We were held hostage for four hours and towards the end, I appealed to them and that they should allow us to go and that as soon as the money is available, we’ll let them know,” he added.
The protesters, however, refused to bulge. They damaged his car, Honda Pilot: the windscreen, the rear light, the side glass are damaged.
Explaining how he was assaulted, he said: “They beat me mercilessly, they tore my dresses, they were shouting Ole! Ole! I could not believe that people from my party could treat me in that manner. They are from my party.
“I was stripped half-naked and beaten. They stole my personal money, wrist watch, my necklace, my bead and total cash of about N80,000.”
Mr. Otemolu said neither he nor any of the organisers received the money meant for the protesters. Mr. Otemolu also confirmed that the presidency later intervened in the crisis.
“So, in short the National Security Adviser to the President is aware of the maltreatment given me. And I want to make it known that the same training exercise took place in some South West states,” he said. Details on the Premium Times.
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