By Peter Ayoade
The leadership tussle rocking traders’ associations in Oyo State took a new dimension when some hoodlums stormed the secretariat of Ibadan Joint Traders Association (IJTA) at Mapo, in Ibadan on Wednesday and unleashed terror on the President, Secretary and some members of the IJTA.
According to an eyewitness account, “some hoodlums forcefully entered the secretariat demanding that the president should follow them to Olubadan’s palace. They claimed Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji requested his presence at the palace. As the president insisted on evidence, they descended on him and other members badly and inflicted injury on them.”
Our correspondent learnt that some injured persons were immediately rushed to the University College Hospital for treatment. However, the whereabout of Alhaji Dauda Oladepo, the president of IJT is unknown as at the time of filing this report, and all efforts to reach him on phone proved abortive as all his lines were switched off.
Meanwhile, a source from the Olubadan’s palace denied the involvement of the royal father. He said, “some traders rushed to the palace today to report the president of IJT, Alhaji Dauda Oladepo was allegedly said to have led some thugs to their shops and ordered attack on them”.
