At least 18 people were hospitalised yesterday when loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed in Osun State.
Violence broke out at Ila-Orangun in Ila Local Government Area when rival party followers met.
The parties were, however, trading blames over the crisis. APC accused the PDP of being responsible for the attack, while the PDP said the other party was the architect of the political crisis in the state.
Eighteen of those injured in the confrontation were currently receiving treatment at the General Hospital, Osogbo. APC claimed those hospitalised were its members.
Trouble first started last Saturday among the politicians who engaged one another in a fierce battle where dangerous weapons like clubs, broken bottles, machetes, knives, charms and others were freely used.
However, the situation snowballed yesterday when they inflicted injuries on one another.
Sources said those injured were first taken to the State Hospital in the town before they were transferred to the General Hospital, Osogbo.
One of the victims, while narrating his ordeal at General Hospital, Osogbo, said some political thugs descended on them and wounded them with dangerous weapons at Ila-Orangun.
The state APC chairman, Prince Gboyega Famodun, accused PDP of being the brain behind the attack.
He called on the police to bring the perpetrators to book.
However, his PDP counterpart, Hon. Soji Adagunodo, described Famodun’s claim as a ruse.
He said: “They are again trying to implicate our party members, the PDP and police by making them enmesh in frivolous arrest of members of the opposition parties based on unconfirmed allegations of attacks and other untoward activities.”
Adagunodo cited a petition written against his members in Ila Local Government Area by APC which took about 12 people to Asubiaro Hospital, claiming that PDP members attacked and injured them.
He said: “They wore bandages on their legs, arms, heads and other parts of their bodies but a closer observation revealed that all their claims of attacks, injuries, etc, are mere frame up and there were no injuries on the entire 12 people who carried bandages all over their bodies.”
Adagunodo urged his members and supporters to maintain calm and shun acts capable of disrupting the electoral process.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Police, Mrs. Abiodun Ige, promised that police would ensure that perpetrators of dastardly acts were brought to justice.
Ige charged politicians to play the game according to the rules.
She said the police would not tolerate any act of lawlessness.
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