Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The Spokesperson to the Osun State Governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed has lambasted the Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, for pushing out false statement on the recent decision by the Appeal Court on the local governments issue, noting that no amount of misguided twist will change the legal reality of the sack of the officials.

 Mallam Rasheed, in a statement,  accused Mr Oyebamiji of a deliberate attempt to misled the public on a judgement that is clear forward, saying that contrary to the impression the  Ikire-born politician tried to sell, the Appeal Court affirmed the judgement of the Federal High Court, Osogbo,  on the  sacked  APC chairmen and councillors.

Mallam Rasheed lashed at Mr Oyebamiji for trying to capitalise on the ignorance of his party members to shore up his failing aspiration, dismissing him as a false alarmist out to heat up the polity with blatant falsehood and should be ignored by the public.

“It is shameful that someone who is aspiring to govern a state could stoop so low to misrepresent Friday’s decision of the Court of Appeal in order to cause confusion and possibly, create a crisis.” 

 “Contrary to his claim, the Court of Appeal did not revalidate the reinstatement of the court-sacked YES or NO officials. Rather, it affirmed their sack,” Mallam Rasheed noted.

“While the CTC of the judgement is still being awaited, excerpts from the judgement, which is already in the public space, clearly showed that the panel revalidated the nullification of the October 15, 2022 local governments election and the sack of the supposed beneficiaries. The faint reference to the sister appeal which the APC has been misrepresented, was to push home the court’s reason to deny the attempt to revive the already dismissed appeal.

“To show that Mr Oyebamiji lied, he should tell the whole world why his party filed the application to relist the appeal against the judgement in the suit filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP) which sacked the APC chairmen and councillors.

“As much as Mr Oyebamiji and his party can continue to lie about the reality of the sack of the YES or NO officials, the whole world already knows the truth and that is what matters.”

Mallam Rasheed who dismissed the claim that Osun Government will utilise Amotekun to usher elected local governments officials into office, said Governor Adeleke is a leader of due process who stuck with the law to get the local government crisis resolved.

“Amotekun was created for a purpose and that is for the security of the people. The Osun State Government under Senator Ademola Adeleke is not in the business of abusing state resources for political purposes. 

“Governor Adeleke is committed to upholding due process to ensure that lawfully elected officials at the councils can assume office without any resort to violence,” the Spokesperson stated.

“This administration is committed to peace and stability, contrary to the intention of Mr Oyebamiji and his party, whose resort to violence claimed no fewer than eight lives, seven of which are PDP members. The state leadership will not give the likes of  Mr Oyebamiji and his party the satisfaction of shedding more blood in their desperate bid  to hijack power, and so, it will continue to solely rely on the law, one of which is the recent decision of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the sack of the APC Chairmen and councillors.”

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