By Ola Ajayi
IBADAN—THE cold war between Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and his former deputy, Alhaji Gbolarumi Azeem has worsened as supporters of the two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP engaged in bloody clash.

Though, no one died during the melee that lasted 30 minutes on Wednesday at the Total Garden area of Ibadan, about three persons including two passers-by were reportedly injured.

There has been cold war between the two politicians for quite some time but it did not snowball into a full blown crisis.

They were close associates but the relationship suddenly went sour as Gbolarumi said he would no longer support the governorship ambition of his former boss and declared his interest to slug it out with Akala, a move that resulted in the alleged sack of a chairman of Ibadan North Local Government, Mr. Anibaba who drummed support for Gbolarumi.

The enmity grew worse as the chairman was purportedly sacked by his councillors who were said to be acting the script of the governor.

During the melee that erupted around 5pm, dangerous weapons like cutlasses, knives and bottles were said to be freely used and some passers-by were reportedly injured in the fracas.

Also, the bill board belonging to an Action Congress of Nigeria, aspirant, Mr. Abiodun Awoleye,  was vandalized.

Pandemonium was said to have broken because of the attack and residents and motorists scampered for safety in different direction to escape being hurt by the hoodlums.

As a result of the crisis, shop owners and traders around the area hurriedly closed their shops and fled.

The aspirant of the ACN, Mr. Awoleye said it was not fair that the hoodlums should vent their anger on him,  adding that he was not in any way linked with the crisis

He said,  “It is regrettable that a well-known chieftain of  the party led the attack. That shows what the PDP stands for. I can’t understand why they would do that. It is undesirable. I call on the police to call members of the PDP to order.”