- says 10 of its members killed
- accuses IGP of taking sides
The political crisis in Osun State has assumed a worrisome dimension as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, raised an alarm of a plan to kill Governor Ademola Adeleke.
It raised the alarm amid its outcry that at least ten of its members in the state had been killed within 48 hours.
Besides the party accused the Police Inspector General, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun of gross impartiality in the crisis.
Raising the alarm through its state chairman, Hon Bisi Sunday, the PDP alleged that the deployment of armed policemen to Osun State by the IGP was a ploy to unlawfully arrest and kill members of the ruling party who have remained law-abiding.
Sunday spoke during a world press conference he addressed at the PDP headquarters in Osogbo, the state capital.
He disclosed that at least 10 members of his party had been reportedly killed in less than 48 hours adding that the situation is causing panic among the residents of the state .
Sunday said: “We are all aware, Osun State has been thrown into the cloudy side of the news in recent days, no thanks to the surreptitious activities of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to destabilise the state with orchestrated violence obviously hatched in active connivance of his office and the opposition All Progressives Congress, banking on a non-existent court order as being brandished by the defeated APC in the state.
“Mr Egbetokun’s deliberate deployment of Special Forces under him to escort some miscreants into the local government councils in the state was nothing but a blatant coup and obviously one out of the many mapped out plans to assassinate the Governor of our dear State, Senator Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, whose instruction to restore peace and order as the Chief Security Officer of Osun State, was flagrantly violated by Mr. Egbetokun.
“We understand that His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke has been interfacing with Egbetokun, with the sole aim of ensuring peace after the fatal fracas on Monday, occasioned by forceful attempts by the sacked chairmen and councilors purportedly elected on the platform of the opposition APC before the advent of the PDP administration in the state.
“The whole world must warn and prevail on Mr. Kayode Egbetokun to desist from being an enabler of orchestrated attempts on the life of our Governor. These plans we want to emphasize, have been on the cards of the APC in Osun State, since the good people of Osun State voted them out of office in 2022.
“The desperation to get rid of Mr. Governor and take over the State through whatever means possible has been rife and clear enough since the APC was shut out of government in Osun.
“These comments are made here today for record purposes and the world must hold the Inspector General of Police accountable in the event of any ugly eventualities in Osun State.
“One wonders how and why the IGP sidetracked the Governor of Osun State before taking a stand on the copies of the judgement at his disposal on the disputes over local government administration in the state.
“The stark disobedience to the laid down protocol and rules by the the IGP Egbetokun, especially as it concerns security situation in the state was not only suspicious but apparently dangerous.
“The motive of security reinforcement if required and as discussed with Egbetokun by His Excellency, the Governor, has not only been betrayed by Mr. Egbetokun, but has also set dangerous routes for trouble makers to carry out their dastardly act even when the state has just lost almost 10 of our sons and daughters to violent confrontations in less than 48hours ago.
“We are not unaware that the desperation of Mr. Egbetokun and his APC cohorts is ultimately to prevent the local government election from holding in Osun State on Saturday, 22nd of February 2025.
“We are aware that Mr. Egbetokun is ready to bend all the rules, aid and abet killings of Osun people, especially members of the ruling PDP as we witnessed on Monday, but the IGP should be told in clear terms that he will fail.
“Osun State is not a state to be intimidated by anyone, even if the present experience was part of the basis for which Egbetokun’s expired tenure of office was elongated.
,”It is on this note that we commend the electoral umpire in Osun state, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) for towing the path of law and legality in its preparations for the upcoming local governments election in Osun state. We understand that the APC’s failure to fault the process as it abides by all extant laws in the land motivated the despicable lawlessness it is currently perpetrating in Osun state just to sabotage the election.
“We want to urge the general public, particularly voters in Osun state, not to succumb to the tactics of the APC and their allies in security outfits as the election billed for Saturday February 22, 2025 will hold without failing.”
He said by the effect of the Federal High Court judgement of November 30, 2022 in suit no FHC/OS/CS/103/2022, which was affirmed by the Appeal Court with the dismissal of the APC appeal challenging the verdict, there clearly exists vacancy in the 30 local governments in Osun as recognised by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and in line with the Supreme Court judgement of July 11, 2024, and not the non-existent 69 councils in which the APC held the YES or NO election on October 15, 2022, which was invalidated by the law court.
