Palliative: APC Suspends Ward Chairman For Assaulting Female Commissioner

-Why I Beat The Female Commissioner- Party Chieftain

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has ratified the suspension of its ward chairman in Arigidi/Iye Ward 1, Mr. Olumide Awolumate, indefinitely for allegedly assaulting a female Commissioner, Mrs. Adebunmi Osadahun.

Already, the leaders and stakeholders of the party in the Akoko North West Local Government area of the State had met in Okeagbe, where the decision to suspend the ward chairman was taken, and communicated to the State Chairman.

The Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Alex Kalejaye in a statement said the action of the local chapter was in line with the directive of the State Secretariat in Akure after the show of shame on Saturday.

Kalejaye said the suspended ward executive member engaged in violent, deplorable, and lamentable conduct that has dragged the State Government, and the party’s image into serious disrepute.

The letter from the local chapter of the party to the Chairman, Ade Adetimehin said “In furtherance to the above, the leadership of the party in Akoko North West deem it fit to officially inform the State Secretariat that Awolumate Olumide is hereby suspended indefinitely from the party in Akoko North West of our great party” the letter read in part.

Adetimehin, on receipt of the suspension letter, assured that the State Secretariat would set up a formidable disciplinary Committee immediately to ensure that the suspended Awolumate is appropriately punished, to serve as a deterrent to other leaders and members of the party.

This development came as the suspended Chairman explained that the Commissioner invaded his home with her son, a police officer, and another young man to arrest him while he never resisted arrest.

Awolumate said the confrontation resulted in a fracas that lasted for some minutes with the woman commissioner and her son who accompanied her beating him and had to defend himself.

His words “What happened is that we had a meeting at the local government level, at the house of a leader, Pa Akeju, we talked about the party, in which the commissioner for women affairs talked about the palliatives that were distributed sometimes ago.

“The commissioner disclosed that the palliatives had been given to different sectors, and at that junction, I raised my hand as the ward chairman of the party that the ten bags that were supposed to be in my custody did not get to me. I noted that some groups had been given, which include, PDP, artisans, and groups, and said ours should be sent to me.

“I raised this in the presence of all the leaders of the party, and the Commissioner objected to this, saying she was the head of that committee at the state level, but I objected to my non-inclusion in the sharing of the palliative, as I was not invited.

‘This led to an argument and I was prevailed upon to leave the meeting but I was home with my family playing ludo when I saw the commissioner in the company of her son and the police officer.

“Her son pounced on me from behind and started hitting me, but I could not sit and fold my arms to allow him to hit me in the presence of my wife, children, and friends. I stood up and fought him back, as I was fighting him, the commissioner joined her son and fought me too.

“She started beating and tearing my cloth in the process, she carried a chair and threw it at me, and in retaliation, I took the chair and threw it back at her.

“To my surprise, I started seeing a video circulating, anybody that studied the video would see it had been doctored and edited, it was so short, it was a planned work, they knew what they were coming to do in my house, they have arranged for somebody to video the scene, I never expected something of such”

He, however, blamed the friction between him and the involvement of the Commissioner in anti-party activities, saying “The woman was involved in anti-party activities, the last state Assembly election. His son was the coordinator of a particular candidate in PDP, and the woman was actively involved in their campaign, they used the woman’s official vehicle to go around the town and campaign for PDP and this did not go down well with party faithful from the ward.

“When the issue of palliative came about, she chose to call this PDP she worked for then, against our candidate in the election, they were the ones she put in charge of the palliative and this did not go down well with the party members.