24th March, 2024.

The Peoples Democratic Party chapter in Osun State has claimed that special security teams from Abuja have a list of twenty-five state officials that they want to arrest and kidnap. In a statement signed by Sunday Bisi, the chairman of the Osun PDP, which was obtained in Osogbo on Saturday, it was said that the security team tasked with making the arrest would begin working without an arrest warrant early the following week. The party added that 15 additional state officials, five party leaders, and four special advisers would be detained and relocated to Abuja after their arrest. According to Bisi, the All Progressives Congress members in the state leaked the plan to arrest PDP and Osun government officials on Thursday night, boasting that they would use federal power to victimize Osun government officials and some PDP leaders. On the other hand, the PDP chairman urged the Department of State Services and the police to refrain from becoming politicized. He declared, “We will not tolerate harassment or victimization of our members in the state. I would like to call on President Bola Tinubu to warn members of his party in Osun.”. We urgently request the President’s intervention.

The appeal is based on the supposition that any operation involving hooded security against officials of Osun State and the party will directly violate the constitution and the people’s fundamental human rights. We refuse to be intimidated or cowed in this way. The government and its members will take all lawful and constitutional actions necessary to prevent the intended infringement of their rights. With Governor Ademola Adeleke leading the state with love and effectiveness, we will legally oppose any attempt to topple Osun state. “.

However, in a follow-up statement, Tajudeen Lawal, the chairman of the Osun APC, characterized the PDP’s accusations as unfounded and a simple fabrication meant to evade answering important questions about the contract procurement procedure overseen by the Adeleke government. Lawal claimed that the Osun PDP’s fear mongering was a ploy to hide the reality of how the state government recently gave over N50 billion in road contracts to unfit businesses and party allies who lacked the technical and professional know-how to carry out road projects. “The handlers of Senator Ademola Adeleke are just being clever by half,” the APC chairman continued. They are bewildered and frightened to respond intelligently to our party’s disclosure of how multi-billion dollar road contracts were awarded to the governor’s friends, family, and cronies despite their lack of road construction experience. Was the state APC responsible for ordering Governor Adeleke, who also serves as the state commissioner for works, to award a road for a kilometer at an outrageous cost of N2.5 billion—far more than what is feasible even in areas bordering rivers?

The PDP’s state leadership ought to keep the APC out of any issues that it may have caused for itself out of sheer political desperation. A law-abiding chairman would instruct the indicted members to respond to the legitimate summons of the security agencies, not instruct them to act as fugitives as the PDP chairman is currently doing, if some of the criminals among them—those who were involved in the maiming, killing, and kidnapping of innocent members of our party—are wanted by law enforcement agencies. The disarray that their avarice has forced upon the Osun people has left the PDP and its allies groping in the daylight. “Earlier in the week, the opposition party made accusations that Adeleke has been giving contracts to unqualified businesses owned by his cronies and family members, which heightened the hostilities between the Osun PDP and APC. After a few hours, the government announced the formation of a committee to investigate contracts awarded by the Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola administration, even though the PDP refuted the accusations and supported Adeleke regarding the ongoing projects throughout the state.