Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has raised the alarm over credible reports of a sinister plot by elements within the opposition parties to launch vicious attacks on local government secretariats across the state, including orchestrated onslaught on leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and top government officials.
In a statement issued, signed and made available to THISDAY yesterday by Mallam Olawale Rasheed, spokesperson to the governor, he noted that the evil agenda is designed to disrupt the forthcoming local government elections and create an atmosphere of chaos to push for the declaration of a state of emergency, warning that “anybody apprehended over the plot will face the full wrath of the law.”
The governor, who described Osun as one of the most peaceful states in the federation, decried the reprehensible desperation among the opposition politicians, especially of the All Progressive Congress (APC), “which is manifesting in their concoction of fake court rulings, deliberate fabrication of fake news and condemnable building of false narratives instead of facing the electorate on February 22.”
According to the governor, there is a subsisting court judgment secured by the APP which nullified the kangaroo local government election held in 2022, declaring that the judgment remains valid in law and reality.
The statement affirmed that the judgment of a Court of Appeal in Akure was about the filing of court processes by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has nothing to do with the subsisting judgment that sacked the illegally elected council chairmen and councilors of the APC.
He said: “I have issued stern directives to the security agencies to secure the state and apprehend any trouble maker. There is no legal basis for any plot to take over the local government system in Osun State. Elections to fill the offices of chairmen and councilors are scheduled for February 22.
“Anybody who tests our resolve to sustain law and order in Osun State will have himself to blame. As the Chief Security Officer for the state, I am determined to deploy all available machinery of the state to maintain peace and punish trouble makers.
“I also call on citizens and residents of the state to go about their normal activities without fear or intimidation. The government is on top of the situation. We are resolved to keep the state and the streets safe from anti-democratic elements.”
