Arise TV goofs, no burning of any motor parks in Osun, Police, press go round parks

By Isa Isawade

A viral video clip of Arise TV Morning show claiming that there were violent attacks and razing of some motor parks in Osogbo, Osun State for “two consecutive days” has ended up being a fake news.

The newscaster claims in the video that violence, allegedly orchestrated by NURTW members loyal to the All Progressives Congress, raged in the motor parks throughout Monday and Tuesday, July 21 and 22 respectively. It also shows a fire scene which must have been deceitfully embedded in the video by whoever generated it to give an impression that fire was set on some of the parks.

Shocked by the wrong report, the Osun State Police Command invited journalists on Wednesday morning to visit all the motor parks so the public would be availed of the truth to avoid unnecessary tension among residents of the state.

The command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, led the press crew which included this reporter to the motor parks across Osogbo. Drivers, commuters and traders alike in and around the motor parks were seen going about their normal businesses. They also debunked the rumours that there were disturbances in the parks.

The fact-finding team’s first port of call was the Stadium Motor Parks. The park was calm without any sign of recent fracas. The vulcanizer at the park, Olawale Olagunju, and others spoken with said the garage has ever been peaceful.

Olagunju, who spoke in Yoruba Language, said: “Nobody burned down this park. I’m always here, nobody set any fire here. Either yesterday or any day, nobody burnt anywhere here. There wasn’t any fighting or crisis here. I’ve always been here. So, there’s no truth in the report.”

Another resident of the area whose shop is behind the garage said the park has always been peaceful and said there was no iota of truth in the report of violence.

The team moved from there to Ilesa Garage, Osogbo where the NURTW members and commuters were seen in joyous mood and the traders in the garage spoken to denied knowledge of any disturbance.

One of the traders who also spoke in Yoruba, Mrs Matthew, said: “There wasn’t even a smoke, let alone fire. There was nothing like that. Nobody fought here. No anywhere was burnt. If anywhere was burnt, you too would have seen the traces.”

From Ilesa Garage, the team moved to Aregbe Garage which was bubbling with activities. Traders in the garage also denied occurrence of any such incident. Madam Oluwatoyin simply said “This is Aregbe Garage, nothing happened here at all.”

The last garage visited by the team was the Old Garage at the center of Osogbo. The place was also calm and the Police Armored Personnel Carrier and patrol vehicles stationed there since the NURTW’s Monday protest in the area to maintain peace were seen on ground.

Adebayo Adeyinka who spoke with the journalists said: “There is no problem in this place. We are selling our market normally. Nobody has created any crisis here at all. No fire here o. You can see that everything is normal here. We are okay here at Old Garage, Oju Irin. It was only protest that took place here on Monday and police came to settle it immediately.”

At the end of the exercise, PPRO Ojelabi spoke with the journalists to assure residents of the state that there was no any iota of truth in the report by the television station. He urged all to go about their normal businesses and warned purveyors of fake news to desist from creating unnecessary tension.

Ojelabi, while speaking with the press, said: “This visit was necessitated by what we heard yesterday going round that some parks have been set on fire within the state. We’ve gone round the parks and we’ve seen that there is nothing of such. Presently we are at Old Garage, Oju-Irin. As you can see, nothing of such. There is no sign of fire anywhere, not to talk of setting anywhere ablaze. Everywhere is beautiful. The people are going about their lawful business.”

However, Ojelabi urged all transport workers in the state to remain peaceful and that they should always use appropriate channels to resolve any grievances when they occur.

“My message to transport workers is that they should remain peaceful and if there are any grievances, they should go to the appropriate authorities to settle the differences. There are rules and regulations guiding parks management. So, they should follow the rules and let peace reign.

“To those who are spreading falsehood and misleading information, they should be very careful. The Cybercrime Act is still very active and we are going to make use of it against those spreading falsehood,” the PPRO warned.