The battle of words between the ruling People’s Democratic Party, and the opposition All Progressives Congress over next year’s governorship election in Osun State, is heightening.
APC believes that it is prepared to sack Governor Ademola Adeleke from office. But the PDP dismissed this as unrealistic, as it accused the opposition party for self-inflicted woes, and incoherence.
Indeed the PDP,in a statement by its state Director of Media, Oladele Bamiji, said the APC’s recent statement accusing PDP of promoting disharmony in “their rejected party” as both ridiculous and nauseating to a sane mind.
It said, “If Sooko Tajudeen Lawal is blind, is he also deaf to hear directly from the National Secretary of their failed party Ajibola Basiru, who described a governorship aspirant among them, a former Speaker and many other associates of the Ilerioluwa faction of their sinking party as “political toddler” at an Ileya Get-to-together party he held in his residence in Osogbo recently?
“Was he representing PDP while making that statement? Was he making that statement at a PDP function or as a PDP political stakeholder?
“So how does Ajibola Basiru speaking fact to issue even in his usual arrogant character in describing his fellow APC elements for who they really are (political toddler) amount to PDP promoting disharmony in the rudderless opposition party in the state?
“We’re not surprised that the APC is feigning ignorance to a statement that is on tape, audio visual and on the Internet as evidence, or trying to twist a statement that is in black and white of how the former Senator has described them.
“That’s the same way they’ve been denying and feigning ignorance to an APP Court judgement that sacked their rejected Yes/No Chairmen and Councillors.
“We want to advise that rather than resorting to unnecessary blame-game tactics and using a smokescreen strategy to deviate from the statement made by their National Secretary, we challenge the rudderless members of the party in the state and its leadership to take on Ajibola Basiru on his claim and stop dragging us into their mess, self-inflicted problems and already factionalised party in the state.
“Let it be categorically stated that the PDP has no hand in the internal squabbles currently rocking the Osun APC.
“The crisis within their fold is purely a product of ego battles, ambition clashes, and the pains of a humiliating defeat they suffered in the 2022 governorship election, an election in which the good people of Osun State rejected their brand of governance with resounding finality.
“Furthermore, we also take serious exception to the baseless attacks on the Amotekun Corps.
“The APC should desist from undermining a security outfit that is doing commendable work to protect lives and property across Osun State.
“If there are members of their party involved in crimes such as kidnapping, robbery, or violence, they should be advised to desist. The law is blind to party, religion, or tribe and it will take its full course on anyone who breaches it.
“As party, we’re more focused on continually delivering a people-centric governance in the state being led by our performing Governor Ademola Adeleke who already has a winning ticket for another term in office on our platform as a party already.
“In this week, our party-led government will be commissioning new roads constructed by the Governor while flagging off a dualisation road project in Iwo as part of our urban renewal efforts in the state and thereby kick-starting another phase of our infrastructural plans for the state
“We’re focused on the job given to us by the good people of Osun State. We have no room for distractions.”
On its own, the APC warned the state PDP to stop making a mistake by thinking that it can distract the governorship aspirants of the party to its own advantage.
It also disclosed that it is aware of the fact that there is no length that the PDP cannot contemplate giving a trial to cause cataclysm in the opposition APC.
The APC issued the warning in a statement by its Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal on Tuesday in Osogbo, stressing that it has been working day and night for Adeleke’s ejection from the Bola Ige House come 2026.
Recalling that some individuals have been misrepresenting the contents of a video made by Senator Ajibola Basiru, the APC National Secretary and a governorship aspirant in the party, it also observed that the PDP leaders lacked the comprehension.
He said, “It would be recalled that the reactionary elements in the state have been falling over one another twisting the content of the video recording statement credited to the national secretary of our party, Senator Ajibola Bashiru who is one of the governorship aspirants of our party for the next year’s election.
“It was observed that the leaders and members of the PDP who have rolled out the drums over the incident are grossly lacking in the comprehension of the statement credited to our national secretary as it was more of a reiteration that nothing would hinder the ongoing constitutional plans of chasing Governor Adeleke back to his base in the United States of America in 2026.
“The incident which was a fallout of the press conference organized by the State Working Committee of the APC led by me was originally called to address the use of the Amotekun Corps by the state Governor Adeleke to victimize, oppress and suppress the members and supporters of the opposition at Itaapa in the Atakumosa-East Local Government Council Area in the state.”
Lawal also stated that the Osun PDP was not at ease due to the hitches being experienced by them at the ongoing legal battle on the issue of the federal government allocations for the local government councils
He said President Bola Tinubu remained the constitutional leader of the country and he has been entrenching peace and harmony.
He also urged members of the party to discountenance reports peddled by the PDP so as not to distract APC collective efforts to “send the minimalist and rudderless Governor Adeleke out of power in 2026.”
Meanwhile, a former member of the House of Representatives and Director General of the Senator Iyiola Omisore Governorship Campaign in 2018, Bade Falade has declared that President Bola Tinubu is a treasured progressive leader in Osun State whose contribution is eternally acknowledged by young and old.
This declaration is in reaction to the alleged mischief being propagated by the PDP government in Osun.
Falade also alleged that the plan of the Osun PDP is to wedge a disharmony between the state APC and the national leadership of the party.
He described Tinubu as the compass of the progressive family in Osun State and Nigeria in whom they are all pleased.
The former federal lawmaker berated Adeleke over alleged secret attempt to foist himself on the party to avoid the imminent defeat awaiting him at the poll in 2026.
He made this known on Monday in Osogbo.
He said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the treasure of APC in Osun and Nigeria at large. So, who dares abuse him? Who dares degrade him? Who dares degrade him? Who dares insult him? Who dares undermine him? This is far from common sense.
“There is a saying that those who don’t want a pregnancy aborted can never pray for such a child to die. Tinubu is our own investment. Tinubu is an investment of APC in Osun. We invested our votes in 2023 to make him President and there is no way anyone will degrade him.
“If anyone should abuse Tinubu or degrade him or debase him or say anything that can tarnish his image, such a person cannot be in this party. It is the figment of imagination of the mischief makers running around with the falsehood.”
