Hon. Olafisoye Akinmoyede, the Lawmaker representing the Akinyele/Lagelu Federal Constituency Oyo, has formally denied allegations of assault leveled against him by a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagelu local government, Mr. Gafar Oyebade.
In a statement released through his Legislative Aide, Dr. Isiaq Akintunde, the lawmaker dismissed the claims as “entirely baseless” and a “lie taken too far.”
The denial follows online reports suggesting that Oyebade was hospitalized following a physical altercation during a meeting at the state party chairman’s office at Oke Ado, Ibadan convened to resolve a leadership dispute in Lagelu local government.
According to the lawmaker, “the meeting was convened to clarify Mr. Oyebade’s position at the local executive and it was well attended by the State Party Chairman, his Deputy, the Secretary, publicity secretary and other high-ranking state executives, all of whom were witnesses to the peaceful proceedings of the meeting.
While Oyebade claimed to be the Party Secretary, official list presented by the Lagelu LG Party Chairman, Hon. Fatai Awoyoola, confirmed him as the Public Relations Officer (PRO).
The state executive thereafter directed Mr Awoyoola to go ahead and swear-in the remaining members of the executive in the said local government.
Hon. Akinmoyede expressed disappointment that Oyebade, a public school teacher, would fabricate such a story because of his support for a certain aspirant.
The lawmaker asserted that Oyebade was seen by some people walking uninjured after the meeting and was never hospitalized as fabricated in the report.
“I wonder why Mr. Gafar Oyebade, a secondary school teacher, would lie about being assaulted in the presence of the State Executive. This is a move to justify money he collected from an aspirant to tarnish my image,” Akinmoyede stated.
The lawmaker also raised concerns regarding Oyebade’s involvement in partisan politics, noting that as a civil servant, he is legally barred from such activities and executive positions within a political party.
Hon. Akinmoyede who maintained that no physical altercation took place as alleged, hinted that since Mr Gafar Oyebade claimed to have lodged a complaint at the police station, urged the security and the media to carry out an investigation at the party’s office at Oke-Ado to ascertain the truth behind these fabrications intended to discredit his reputation to know the kind of person that Mr Oyebade is.
