Osun APC: Aregbesola’s loyalists accuse Gov’s group of plotting to assassinate leaders

 

. Allegation mischievous, to smear Oyetola–Spokesman

BLESSING AKOROWOSI, Osogbo

 

The Osun Progressives (TOP), Aregbesola’s caucus in the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s group, IleriOluwa of planning to eliminate its leaders.

 

TOP Chairman, Adelowo Adebiyi, in a statement on Monday alleged that the level of desperation of IleriOluwa group has culminated in a plot by its leaders to eliminate TOP leaders and put a stop to their opposition.

 

Recall that TOP had in July this year raised the alarm that some government officials and APC chieftains were planning to assassinate and attack leaders of TOP in the state.

 

“Few weeks after the report, one of the leaders of TOP, Com. Biyi Odunlade, a former Commissioner for Youths, Sports and Special Needs, escaped assassination when assailants attacked his house in Ile-Ife on August 14.

 

‘There were other attempts on the lives of some other TOP members who were attacked at their various meetings across the state.

 

“It is noteworthy to mention that some of the TOP leaders have been receiving strange calls which started at the weekend. The callers were threatening TOP leaders with assassination as the solution to TOP activities in the state.

 

“We learnt on inquiry that the Governor’s group IleriOluwa is jittery of what is likely going to be the outcome of the case instituted by members of the APC who belong to TOP caucus and would not mind if some leaders are killed in order to put a stop to TOP activities.

 

“We further gathered that the IleriOluwa group got incensed by the entry of Hon Lasun Yusuf’s into the governorship race and concluded that it was TOP activities that gave him the liver to be challenging the second term ambition of Governor Oyetola.

 

“We were additionally told that an urgent meeting of the IleriOluwa top hierarchy was held somewhere in Boripe local government about a week ago where the decision to assassinate some leaders of TOP was finalised as the last joker to check our group’s contest for power with them,” he alleged.

 

Adelowo further explained that TOP had made reports of assassination and attack plots on its leaders in the past to the security agents, but the reports have not been treated till date.

 

“It is with grave concerns that we note the levity with which majority of the security agencies have been handling reports of attacks on our members and we dare say it portends bias and negligence of duty on their part.

 

“We are forced to conclude that majority of the security agencies are working closely with Governor Oyetola’s group IleriOluwa in its determined desire to annihilate us simply because we embark on campaign for the repositioning of Osun APC.

 

“We put on record that nobody has the monopoly of violence and it is the beginning of a strife that is often known, not many often have the grace to know its end.

 

“We conclusively call on President Muhammadu Buhari to take interest in the case of Osun APC and avoid the killing of innocent lives for the actualization of somebody’s ambition.

We also call on the biased security agencies to take steps in line with their constitutional duty of protecting all Nigerians and not just those in government,” he concluded.

 

Reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Oyetola, Mr. Ismail Omipidan described the allegation as not only mischievous, but also wickedly calculated at smearing the good name of the Governor.

 

Omipidan said all those behind the malicious and unguarded statement needed to have their heads thoroughly examined to ascertain their mental state.

 

He urged Adelowo and his co-travelers to leave former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yusuff out of their devious plot, adding that Lasun’s statement, as widely reported in the media on Tuesday is a clear indication that he does not share the same thinking with them.

 

Omipidan further argued that only an unstable mind and character would accuse a person of the Governor’s standing, who in the last three years has not done anything to portray him as a man given to violence or the government he leads, of assassination plot.

 

He said that Elder Adebiyi Adelowo was among those who allegedly led hoodlums to attack members of the APC on August 14, at the State party secretariat where persons were injured.

 

He added, “The case was incidented at the Police Station by the then Caretaker chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun, arrests were made and they were duly arraigned before a Magistrate. It took the intervention of Mr. Governor to get him and his co-travelers off the hook.

 

“How can such a man who is known to have been associated with violence in the past turn around to accuse my Principal who was even described by a prominent TOP member, Temitope Mustapha, on air today (Wednesday) during a radio Live Programme as a decent and complete gentleman of violence?

 

“We are aware that Elder Adebiyi through some of his foot soldiers have been holding clandestine meetings on how to unleash mayhem on Osun. But like all previous plots, this too will fail.

 

“Elder Adebiyi is already perceiving another failure on his wild goose chase. This is a man who forged the signatures of other members of the party and lied that they signed the petition to protest the conduct of the Ward Congress. When the lie was bursted , he apologised and pleaded that he be given another chance.

 

“He knows those who are in the habit of using extra judicial means by deploying non-state actors to deal mercilessly with perceived opponents. This does not fit the person and character of Oyetola. And our elder knows this much.

 

“That said, I want to enjoin our security operatives to be on the alert. Elder Adebiyi and his co-travelers might be the ones actually plotting something sinister and might therefore just be looking for an alibi. Isn’t it said that we judge others by our own standard?” Omipidan queried.