THE Olugbo of Ugbo-Ilaje in the coastal area of Ondo State, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan, has denied allegations linking him with incidents of ballot box snatching and intimidation of voters during the conduct of the state Assembly elections in Ilaje local council of the state last Saturday.
The monarch had been linked with the activities of some political hoodlums who were said to visited different voting units disrupting the process and carting away ballot boxes.
The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement alleged that the Olugbo was instrumental to the mayhem that engulfed the area while voting was going on.
Mohammed said the Olugbo was involved because his son, Abayomi, was a candidate for the State House of Assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that the monarch allegedly engaged the services of hoodlums to truncate the process.
But Oba Akinruntan, in a statement issued during the voting process, denied any connection with acts of hooliganism in the local council.
He said, “I am hearing these allegations for the first time and it amazed me that some people would link me person with such acts. For the avoidance of doubts, I am in my palace now at Ode-Ugbo.
According to him, the fact that his son, Abayomi, was a candidate in the election is not enough, “for anybody who comes from a place where they have a monarch to trample on the integrity of the Olugbo, a throne that had existed for centuries that everybody is trying to protect.
