The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to protect former government officials who served under the administration of Gboyega Oyetola and other chieftains of the party from an alleged plot by the government of Ademola Adeleke to use the guise of recovering allegedly looted vehicles.
The APC also called on the chiefs of the security agencies in the country, particularly Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to come to the aid of its members, claiming that they have been arbitrarily blacklisted for a series of violent attacks by the state government.
It frowned at the protracted shutdown of the courts in the state by the state government, describing the action as “inhuman” and a security threat given the high number of lawsuits that would have been adjudicated and disposed of for justice.
The opposition party made the appeals on Monday while briefing journalists on development it said was capable of plunging the state into avoidable crises.
Addressing the press conference in Osogbo, the APC State Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal said the call was necessary to nip in the bud the alleged plot of Governor Adeleke to harass, kidnap and kill leaders and members of the opposition in order to silence the voice of the opposition.
Lawal described the ‘White Paper’ purportedly issued by Governor Adeleke as a ‘mere smokescreen,’ saying the motive was aimed to “divert the attention of the public from asking pertinent questions regarding the looting carnival and grossly irresponsible conduct of the mediocre and political charlatans in the seat of power in Abere.”
According to him, “the Task Force, secretly set up by Governor Adeleke and populated by the PDP thugs and notorious criminals on the wanted list of the police have been billed to forcefully retrieve some vehicles duly approved for past government functionaries.
“On the threat to lives and properties of the leaders and members of the All Progressives Congress, Security reports available to us revealed that the handlers of the state government will anytime from now carry out the evil plan by hiding under the excuse of implementing the White Paper recently issued by the Osun State Government.
“Governor Ademola Adeleke should save the state of impending mayhem by reverting to status quo ante pending the outcome of the lawsuits instituted by the affected parties.
“We use this medium to call on President Bola Tinubu and the Inspector-General of Police in the country to intervene in the brewing situation in the state,” Lawal said.
Reacting, the Director Media and Publicity, Osun People’s Democratic Party, Bamiji Oladele, berated the APC for crying wolf where there is none.
“What the present administration did was to investigate the missing of government vehicles and it was discovered that the vehicles were carted away by officials of the previous administration illegally, hence, a taskforce to recover the missing vehicles is put in place, we are not after anybody or attempt to silence opposition but to recover what they stole,” he said.
