The Oyo state House of Assembly lawmaker representing Ibadan North constituency II, Honourable Gabriel Babajide and the correspondent chairman of the House, Oladapo Ibikunle have reconciled and embraced each other.
The truce between the duo was consequent upon a peace meeting on Monday (today) at the instance of the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Media and ICT, Honourable Qozeem Olayanju in conjunction with the executive members of the correspondents.
According to a news report in some section of the online media over the weekend, the House of Assembly correspondents’ Chairman, Oladapo Ibikunle was assaulted by political supporters of Hon. Babajide at Sango Poly Junction while heading to a campaign rally in Igboora.
Mr Ibikunle while narrating his side of the story in company of the leadership of the House correspondents alleged threat to his life by one of the political supporters of the lawmaker at the scene of the incident.
The lawmaker, who is seeking a reelection for another term of four years as a member, Oyo State House of Assembly, refuted the allegation of threat to life saying it was a minor verbal altercation between Mr Ibikunle and his supporters who were on a campaign train to a political rally.
While acknowledging there was a misunderstanding in communication during exchange of verbal altercation at the scene, Hon. Babajide noted that he expected the matter not to have degenerated into a sort of media face-off considering the long-standing relationship between members of the House and House of Assembly correspondents.
Members of the House Correspondents present at the meeting in their separate remarks stressed the importance of mutual understanding between members of 9th Oyo Assembly and journalists covering the House, especially during the already heightened political campaign season.
Hon. Olayanju while appealing to his colleague and Ibikunle said, the 9th Assembly has shown the needed capacity and willpower to foster cordial relationship with journalists particularly those covering the House.
While assuring that the House would continue to synergize with House of Assembly correspondents for improved relationship and adequate dissemination of information regarding activities of the House, he appealed to the duo to embrace each other in the spirit of brotherliness.
The Speaker, Honourable Adebo Ogundoyin, who briefly hosted both aggrieved parties and other members at the peace meeting expressed dismay and displeasure at the manner emotions were not properly handled while the misunderstanding lasted.
He however, commended both parties for finally finding a common ground to resolve their differences maturely. He stressed the importance of exhibiting high level maturity at all times when handling issues affecting other people, noting that leadership always places the burden of responsibility on anyone in position of a leader.
