According to claims making the rounds on social media, Rasaq Shotayo, better known as “Sholebo,” the Chairman of the Riders and Owners of Motorcycles Organization, ROMO, Ogun State Chapter, denied threatening the life of Mr. Aleshinloye Owolabi, the Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Iju Ward, Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, during the party’s recently concluded presidential primary election.
The allegations were characterised by Shotayo in a statement he released on Saturday as being untrue, deceptive, and an intentional distortion of his ward meeting remarks.
He adamantly maintained that the video that went viral was doctored to misrepresent the circumstances around his intervention.
According to Shotayo, who is an active and influential member of the APC, he was deeply concerned about the deteriorating condition of party activities in the ward and wanted to voice his concern at the gathering. He blamed the ward secretary for what he saw as the secretary’s inactivity.
According to him, the ward’s political system was suffering from a lack of progress due to ineffective leadership and inadequate coordination, and he wanted to bring attention to this by interfering.
The ROMO chairman insisted that all he did was echo the worries of the APC ward members in Iju Ward, who had lost faith in the ward secretary due to his supposed lack of involvement in important party events and engagements, such as the just-concluded primaries in the ward.
The advancement of our party in Iju Ward was my only motivation for interfering. Neither directly nor indirectly did I endanger anyone’s life. My comments are being misrepresented in the video that is going around.
Members of the ward have long voiced their displeasure with the secretary’s lack of involvement in party activities, particularly the recently held primaries, and his general disengagement from active party work, according to the statement.
“All I did was reiterate the worries voiced by the ward’s APC members, who have lost faith in the secretary and are demanding responsibility from higher up in the party.”
Shotayo vehemently denied ever threatening Mr. Owolabi or anybody else, calling the accusations baseless and driven by political motivation.
He restated his commitment to upholding the law, maintaining peace, and being a responsible citizen. He denied ever being violent and said that he has always acted in accordance with the principles of due process, politeness, and respect for party institutions while involved in politics.
I did not threaten or resort to violence at any stage. My remarks were political, helpful, and intended to fortify our party, not weaken it.
Nobody scares me, and I’m not hiding anything. In order to get to the bottom of this, I’m even prepared to ask the relevant security authorities to look into it, the statement continued.
He emphasised his dedication to peace, unity, and the advancement of the APC in Ogun State, and he urged party members and the public at large to ignore what he portrayed as an effort to discredit him.