There was pandemonium in some parts of Oyo State on Wednesday as some elected council chiefs sacked eight months ago by Governor Seyi Makinde were allegedly attacked by some thugs.

The chairman of Afijio Local Government area of the state, Samuel Aderemi, was allegedly waylaid and abducted by some thugs who reportedly stormed the council secretariat in the early hour of the day.

Aderemi, who was said to have been beaten to a pulp by his attackers, was later whisked away in a bus to an unknown destination before being rescued hours later by security agents.

Similarly, there were reported skirmishes in Ibadan North, Ibadan North East and Omi Apata local council development areas on Wednesday as political thugs reportedly went on rampage.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lukmon Anwo, was also said to have been attacked.

Men of the Oyo State Police Command, with some personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp, later quelled the crisis in the affected areas.

It was learnt that some party loyalists suffered varying degrees of injuries in a free-for-all.

The state ALGON Chairman, Abass Aleshinloye, in a telephone interview, said some of his members were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

He said, “We know where this is coming from. They instigated thugs to attack some of our members in an attempt to prevent us from resuming to carry out our constitutional duties.”

Trouble started on Monday when the sacked chairmen and councillors, who were elected on May 12, 2018, resumed duty after being relieved of their jobs eight months ago by Governor Seyi Makinde.

It will be recalled that the leadership of the National Union of Local Government Employees had on Sunday directed its members to stay at home in anticipation of the looming crisis.

ALGON in a statement titled, ‘We resist a government of lawlessness,’ signed by Abass-Alesinloye, said, it is aware of the late hour invasion of some of its members at the local government secretariats by the state sponsored thugs.

“This latest act of vandalism, violence and attempt on the lives of ALGON members in some local government areas is an act of cowardice of a malicious government that is refusing to accept the reality of supremacy of law over lawlessness, and superiority of the Supreme Court judgment against illegal dissolution of local government councils.

“Since midnight, many of our members’ homes have been targeted by government-sponsored death squads in their bid to truncate our mandate by any means. PDP brigands and murderers of yesteryears have been reactivated and unleashed by this governor.

“If democracy must survive, then the rule of law and obedience to court judgement, including the subsisting judgment of the Oyo State High Court, which gave perpetual injunction against local government dissolution is non-negotiable,” the statement read.

Attempts by our correspondent to get a reaction from Babatunde Oduyoye, Special Adviser to Governor Makinde on Political Affairs, was abortive as calls made to his telephone line were not picked and a message sent to his line was not replied.

However, Makinde was said to have disclosed in Abuja on Wednesday that his visit to the Force Headquarters in Abuja was in connection to the crisis trailing the dissolution of the elected council chairmen in the state.

When contacted for confirmation on the alleged violence and abduction of ALGON members, the Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Olugbenga Fadeyi, did not pick calls that were made to his telephone number. He also did not reply the message that was sent to him.