BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola Campaign Council has flayed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the July 16 governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, for boasting that he was loaded with enough money to prosecute the poll.
Adeleke, while addressing his supporters at a campaign rally in Osogbo over the weekend, claimed he was well prepared for the governorship race and vowed to defeat incumbent Governor Oyetola, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
In a viral video sighted, the governorship candidate said he had brought money for the election and assured his supporters of surplus of hard currencies such as dollars, euro and pounds.
“My fellow Osun residents, you are the one to decide. It is not by force, not by gimmicks, if it is money, I have brought money and not only Naira but Dollars, Pounds and Euro. This time around, it is fire for fire for Osun governorship election,” Adeleke had said with an accompanying applause from his crowd of supporters.
But, in a statement signed by its Director-General, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, on Monday, the Campaign Council described Adeleke’s statements as absurd, unthinkable and totally unacceptable.
Oyetola’s Campaign Council declared that Osun was not for sale to the highest bidder, adding that Adeleke had proven to the Osun electorate that he had nothing to offer.
“Osun people are not gullible. We have left them in no doubt of the quality our party, the APC and our administration are made of, including the capacity of our candidate to deliver in the past three and half years. We have proved through our inclusive governance strategy that our people are our strength and that we do not take them for granted and we will never take them for granted.
“This explains why in spite of the way the 2018 election went, our administration began infrastructure intervention from Ede, the hometown of the PDP candidate.
“Osun people are enlightened, they know that the State and its citizens are not up for sale to the highest bidder. Therefore, the PDP candidate should keep his money. Or better still, he could deploy those resources to establish industries to provide jobs for the people.
“This way, he will also be supporting the present Administration’s noticeable efforts in the last three and half years to industrialise the state and change its narrative as a Civil Service State, to one bubbling with economic activities.
“It is on record that the Oyetola-led administration has since inception taken concrete steps to open up the State for investments, and has been able to attract a number of investments into Osun, contributing to the economic growth of the State.
“We assure the PDP candidate that, like the administration did to other players in the private sector, we will provide a level playing ground for his business to thrive and ensure Osun and its people derive maximum benefit from the investment.
“As a responsible party, we urge Senator Adeleke and his party to embrace peaceful conduct and decorum in their political engagements and electioneering. We must avoid any comment or action that can jeopardise the peace and stability of our State,” the statement read.
