by The crossover party organised by Osun State Government to usher in the year 2020 ended on a sad note as thugs invaded the venue and disrupted the event. The event, which was held at the Freedom Park in the heart of Osogbo, the state capital, started on a sound note with residents attending the show massively and different local musicians thrilling the audience.
At exactly 12:00am, the new year light was shot and spectacular lightning in the sky thrilled the audience into the year. After the fireworks display comes to an end, the Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola mounted the stage and address the gathering assuring that of a better year and a prosperous 2020. After his address, the star artist of the night, Qdot was called onto the stage for his performance and few minutes after at about 1 am some gangs stormed the venue wielding different types of weapons, including cutlass, matches and clubs.
The medium gathered that before the musician could begin to enjoy the microphone, the thugs who had fully mobilised themselves to the venue started pelting stones at the dignitaries. Fun seekers at the venue Osun New Year event, Miss Abimbola Adewole told our correspondent that the disruption was carefully planned because the venue was peaceful until the miscreants took over. She said their action forced the Osun State Governor and his entourage to vacate the venue of the New Yew bash and returned to the government House amidst confusion as gun was shot into the air sporadically. “As the thugs begins to throw stones around, first targeting the dignitaries, the Governor’s entourage left and everyone begins to scamper for safety. Some of us ran towards the police station but we were asked to go somewhere else.
“The whole scene of the Osun New Year was horrible that we had to walk to Alekuwodo to get a commercial motorcycle to Ayetoro”, she added. Another resident of Oke-Fia, Bashir Usman, who spoke in Hausa language, said the thugs were daring and after ensuring that the governor and his entourage left the scene, they mounted the stage damaging some of the equipment used for the show. He said some of them were using matchet while others had cutlass but stones were used to disperse the audience. A resident who was returning from the night Church service, Lekan Adeola said he had to divert the motorcycle conveying him home when thugs wielding different arms took over the road towards Old-Garage from Ola-Iya. However, Oyetola’s Chief Press Secretary, Ismail Omipidan said it was not an attack on the governor, but a fight between two groups outside the venue. He added that the governor was not forced to leave the venue, but went to attend a prayer programme at another venue, saying if he was attacked, he would not have attended another event same day. As at the time of filing this report on Wednesday, the stones were still very much on the floor of the venue. Some of the dignitaries at the event with the governor include, the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebanji, Commissioner for Environment and Sanitation, Iyaloja General, Awawu Asindemade, Comrade Amitolu Shittu among others.
Source: Vanguard News Nigeria.
