At about 10 am on Monday, Ode-Omu in Osun State, hometown of Mr. Jelili Adesiyan (aka Jalo), Minister of Police Affairs, erupted in a violent protest. Sources in the town said policemen, on the orders of the minister, shot sporadically to disperse a crowd of youths who were protesting the arrest and detention of about 50 indigenes of the town since Friday. Those arrested, according to people in the town were said to have jubilated when the Osun Elections Petition Tribunal upheld the electoral victory of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, something that angered Adesiyan, a loyalist of Mr. Iyiola Omisore, defeated governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The protesters were said to have demanded the immediate release of their detained kinsmen or that they should be charged to court, rather than remain indefinitely in detention. Motorists had to flee to escape being hit by bullets. An eyewitness, Prince Kanmi Ademiluyi, Chairman, Editorial Board of The Niche, told newsbreak.ng that he and his driver had to abandon the car they were travelling in to take refuge in the home of an old woman. “We could have been killed. The policemen were shooting without restraint. They did not look like they wanted to take prisoners. It was horrible,” he said.

Public Relations Officer of the Osun State Police Command, DSP Folashade Odoro, said there was no casualty and that order has been restored to the town.