The Osun State Government and the Osun State Police Command are trading words over the shooting in police custody of the Chairman of the Osun Transport Management System, Comrade Iyanda Alowonle, over a domestic matter.
While the government said he was arrested over a domestic issue, a video seen by The Eagle Online showed his arrest with bullets.
The Osun State Government in a statement by its Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, raised the alarm over the “shooting to near death in police custody” of Alowonle over a domestic matter.
Alimi said in the statement: “Alowonle is presently on life support at the Intensive Care Unit of the Osun State Teaching Hospital after a gunshot wound in the abdomen while in the custody of the police at Osogbo.
“Video clips of Alowonle in handcuffs and under interrogation circulating in the media space dispelled any excuse that the park chairman was trying to escape.
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“The fact that he was shot in the abdomen as video from his hospital bed confirmed proved that he was shot at close range with intent to eliminate him.
“Interactions between the Special Adviser on Security Matters to the State Governor, Mr Samuel Ojo and the Head of Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Moses Lohor provided direct proof that the incident was premeditated to murder Mr Alowonle.
“We also note that the issue that generated the purported arrest was a civil matter, not criminally related to have warranted the involvement of Mr Moses Lohor, the head of the Anti-Kidnapping squad except for the repeat of a recent pattern of police harassment of officials of the state government on partisan motivation.
“The programmed attempted murder of Mr Alowonle is just one in the series of shootings and attacks on officials of the state by the head of anti-kidnapping squad who regularly acted with impunity and who has not hidden his vow to eliminate supporters of the state government.
“As we summoned several meetings to calm frayed nerves today, we struggled hard to stop reprisal attacks against police establishments across the state due to what the public now see as police partisan conduct in breach of the law.
“As we regret a situation in which law enforcers are becoming threat to peace and stability of the state, the state government therefore demands the Inspector General of Police and the National Security Adviser to take judicious note of the increasing breach of state peace by the hostile conduct of some police officers who now shot at innocent civilians and suspects at will.
“We call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Mr Moses Lohor, the Head of the Anti- Kidnapping Squad for his wilful act of attempted murder.
“We demand police impartiality and commitment to rule of law without fixation on partisan considerations;
“We also call the attention of the National Security Adviser to the increasing threat to peace in Osun state amidst threat to unleash violence ahead of 2026 election
“We call on the Inspector General of Police to rise to the occasion and abandon any signal that may portray him as acting against Osun peace and stability.”
However, in the video seen by The Eagle Online, Alowonle was being questioned over the source of bullets found in his car safe.
He told his interrogators that the bullets were given to him by a policeman.
In another development, Alowonle’s deputy was said to have accused him of the mismanagement of N500 million belonging to the park management.
In another video and photographs, the deputy was seen with various degrees of injuries, including stitches on his head and bandaged hand and leg.
As at press time, the Osun State Police Command had only spoken through the video it made available to the public to counter the position of the Osun State Government.
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