APC, PDP in war of words over lingering local govt crises in Oyo

The Oyo State chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are currently accusing each other of being the masterminds of the crisis rocking local government system in the state.

The local government system in the state is currently in the state of dilemma over who are the authentic Chairmen between the local government Chairmen who were sacked by Governor Seyi Makinde last year and those he recently appointed as Caretakers.

While the APC accused PDP government led by Makinde of bringing back anarchy with contradictions to the state, PDP in its own reaction, accused APC of desperation to cause chaos, derail governance and destroy the state with its orchestrated lawlessness and well-oiled falsehood over the local government dissolution.

APC in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Dr. AbdulAzeez Olatunde, said the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Professor Oyelowo Oyewo’s oscillating contradiction on a television programme on Monday, while trying to defend the governor’s sacking of the elected council chairmen, shows the level of executive rascality being perpetrated by the Makinde-led government.

But, PDP in its own statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Engineer Akeem Olatunji, maintained that the ongoing violence and threats to peace and order in Oyo State were orchestrated by the APC, which has remained ever so determined to foist illegality on the State using the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police.

APC said, “Imagine Oyo State AG and Justice Commissioner admitting that Nigeria is operating a federal system of government, which guarantees independence for the three tiers of government in which Oyo AG freely and happily quoted the Supreme Court judgement of Federal Government versus Lagos State on one hand but hypocritically refused to acknowledge the similarity in the Supreme Court verdict of Olubunmi versus Ekiti State government, which is applicable to the constitutional logjam we are experiencing in Oyo State, on which premise AGF Abubakar Malami intervened in Oyo State LG crisis.

“Several times, Oyo State government and its party, PDP, had rolled out a lot of fibs to the undiscerning public of restraining injunction against the May 12, 2018 local government elections in the state and APC Oyo State has challenged the governor and his party, PDP, several times to no avail, to produce the restraining injunction with the name of the judges that made the pronouncement. They will not be able to produce any restraining injunction because it is all lies”.

The APC said it was too bad that the learned AG and would be so audacious to claim on a national television channel that the governor’s sacking of the council chairmen was informed by the audit of infrastructure left behind by his predecessor, adding that did the Makinde-led government audited the infrastructure within 12-24 hours of assumption of office.

“The sad tale of the present ongoing scenario is the return to anarchy in Oyo State with the Oyo government hatchet men chasing the elected council chairmen and councillors from their various homes for the past one week now, which has resulted to injury to scores of our party stalwarts and reported death of yet to be confirmed figures of our party members.

“While Governor Seyi Makinde was in court for his governorship election, President Muhammadu Buhari never asked him to step aside, we are surprised at the interpretation of the federal system of government as it is applicable to the PDP government of Engr Seyi Makinde, asking elected council officials to step aside and then appoint caretaker chairmen to usurp their positions when the government openly admitted that the elected officials have litigation against the government.

“APC Oyo State meanwhile call on the security agencies to be proactive by ensuring all agent of violence are put in check and equally appeal to all the stakeholders in the affairs of Oyo State to please sheath their swords and give peace a chance. The APC government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi brought peace to Oyo State for eight years. APC stands for peace and will never support whatever will truncate peaceful coexistence of Oyo State residents.”

PDP in its own analysis cited the arrest of an aide of a sacked APC local government chairman for the killing of a PDP member identified as Alajase in Surulere Local Government Area as a vindication that it was, indeed, the APC that had been attacking law-abiding PDP members across the State, adding that scores of PDP members were being treated for different injuries in hospitals across the State.

“We are saddened by the ongoing violence in Oyo State, which is being orchestrated by the APC. We symphathise with the family that lost their breadwinner in Surulere Local Government as well as those who are injured and have been receiving treatments in different hospitals.

“No one would have expected that the APC’s desperation and penchant for lawlessness would go to the extent of shedding bloods. But we are not surprised that it could come out to tell barefaced lies to the world that Governor Makinde, a peace-loving individual, has brought violence back to Oyo State.

“How can the Oyo APC, which held violent campaigns that claimed lives turn around to say Makinde has brought violence back to Oyo State? How can the party that was in government when a member of the House of Representatives, who disagreed with their party, was murdered in cold blood accuse anyone of bringing violence back to Oyo State?

“We commend the Oyo State Police Command for its efforts in promptly arresting an aide of a sacked APC local government chairman for the murder of our member in Ogbomoso. This has cleared the air on the false information credited to the Minister of Youths and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare, that his town was under siege. He should have been truthful enough to state that the siege was caused by party members,” the PDP stated.

According to the PDP, contrary to the misinformation by the APC that there were contradictions from the State Government on the ongoing local government debacle, the positions of the Government and the PDP had remained clear, unambiguous and consistent.

“The Oyo State APC is a party of falsehood, mendacity and ignorance. We sympathise with them for being clueless and lacking the capacity to process and accept the truth. The Oyo State Attorney General, a professor of Law and renowned academic, in an interview on Channels TV, elucidated on the local government dissolution and the legal justifications of the Governor Makinde administration to dissolve the APC chairmen, whose election was illegal ab initio.

“From Professor Oyewo’s viewpoints, intelligent Nigerians could see that the APC is engaging in orchestrated lawlessness and falsehood because they have the backing of the Federal Government. The professor made it clear that apart from lacking proper briefing on the local government matter in Oyo State, the Attorney General of the Federation’s action was selective and partisan.

“Yes, he alluded to the fact that Nigeria practises a federal system and also made reference to the matter between the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government under former Governor Bola Tinubu. But did Abubakar Malami and the APC show regard for the federal system by their action? No. If they do, they would not have sought to grind governance to a halt in Oyo State because a Governor exercised his constitutional powers.

“The questions being asked by intelligent observers on the ongoing local government matter are; why is the APC so desperate to enforce a Supreme Court judgment given on a matter in Ekiti State when there are pending appeals before the Court of Appeal on the Oyo State matter with peculiarities to Oyo State? Do they no longer believe in their own case and the appeal against a stay of execution obtained by the Government?

“The answers to these questions are clear; the APC is a lawless party and it is determined to stop at nothing to make sure that Governor Makinde does not focus on the task of governance. The APC has made a pact to derail governance and even make Oyo State ungovernable for Makinde. They have held several meetings in Abuja, Lagos, Osogbo and Ibadan where their leaders all vowed to ensure that the people of Oyo State pay dearly for voting their party out of office.

“But we can tell them confidently that all their machinations will fail, because God and the people of Oyo State are behind Governor Makinde. By God, he defeated the APC despite its monstrosity and violence machineries and financial war chest in the last election. By God, Oyo State people escaped the trap set for Makinde in the courts and by God, they will triumph over the APC’s desperation to destroy the State.”

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