2023 elections: Osun APC, PDP accuse each other of employing diversionary tactics

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has frowned at the alleged diversionary tactics of the Director-General of the Atiku-Okowa Campaign Council, Sunday Bisi.

The Osun APC alleged that it is aimed at scuttling the call for the immediate arrest of the PDP House of Representatives candidate for Ijesa-South Federal Constituency, Sanya Omirin, over the killing of a member of the APC in Ilesa, Ebenezer Alaro, on Friday.

Newspot had reported that Alaro was killed in front of his father’s house at Aromire Street, Ilesa, by suspected political thugs.

The death of the APC member also drew condemnation from Timothy Owoeye, the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, who condemned the act and called on the police to fish the perpetrators and make them face the full weight of the law.

The Osun State Police Command, through its spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, also confirmed the killing but added that the Command was not briefed if he was a politician or not.

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However, in a statement by Tajudeen Lawal, the acting APC chairman in the state on Sunday, the party condemned Bisi for allegedly resorting to the use of conjecture and falsehood to drive his political point.

Lawal stated that with the self-confession of Bisi that he had been witnessing the importation of hoodlums into his community for some time without reporting the same to the police makes him pointedly culpable for playing dirty politics with genuine peace in Ijesaland.

“How can an ultimatum of 72 hours of relocation be given to hoodlums by a political party leader who professes to be serious and acting in the interest of his people?

“The statement made by Sunday Bisi in that regard was only diversionary which was intended for the police to shift their attention on the arrest and prosecution of Omirin and his goons over the killing of our member, Alaro, last Friday,” Lawal explained.

Bisi had in a statement on Sunday issued a 72 hour ultimatum to Ajibola Famurewa and Owoeye to remove hoodlums recruited from neighbouring states to disrupt elections in Osun.

In a personally signed statement, Bisi accused the Osun APC stalwarts and the acting party chairman in the state of plotting to ignite unrest in the state in order to save the party from a humiliating loss at the polls.

“In the last few days, we noticed the movement of thugs into Osun state by the APC and fully aware of all the hotels in Osun East and other parts of the state where they were lodged,” the former Osun PDP Chairman asserted.

“Our credible findings detailed that the daredevil hands have been prepared to unleash violence, intimidate innocent people, and target our members for attacks in order to scare them away from participating in the polls. This quite explains the surge in violence on PDP members, especially in Osun East, where many have come under increasing fear for their lives.

“For this reason, we will give the APC leaders 72 hours to remove all the hoodlums they brought into Osun state, and failing to do so, we will be left with no option but to hand over their locations to security agencies so as to throw them out of our state.”

Bisi who condemned the APC’s action towards the elections as desperation taken too far noted that a party who had done well to earn the support of the people will not need to import criminals to cause mayhem.

Newspot had reported that on Wednesday, the Osun APC had in a press conference demanded the immediate transfer of the Osun State Police Commissioner because it had lost faith in his ability to maintain the democratic setting in the state.

The APC, speaking through Kola Olabisi, the party’s Director of Media and Information in the state, also disclosed that it was armed with information revealing arrangements between the PDP in the State and the police to arrest some of its leaders.

While accusing Osun PDP of sponsoring hoodlums in the state, the party stated that, “their members have not known peace since the Osun Gubernatorial election petition tribunal judgment which did not favour the Osun PDP and Governor Ademola Adeleke.”

Olabisi who represented Tajudeen Lawal, the Osun acting APC chairman at the press conference, disclosed that many of their members were now hibernating and squatting in Ilesa, Ile-Ife, Osogbo and other towns to evade political attacks.

Reacting, Akindele Adekunle, the Osun PDP caretaker chairman debunked the insinuation that APC members were attacked by PDP members.

Adekunle added that APC members were the ones attacking PDP members in the state.

In the run up to the 2023 general elections, the Osun East Senatorial District comprising three federal constituencies of Ife, Ijesa North and Ijesa South federal constituencies had been embroiled in pockets of violence.

The violence has cut across party lines as campaign offices of candidates and party stalwarts in both the APC and the PDP in Ife and Ijesa lands have been attacked.

Also, some members of both parties that were caught in the crossfire have lost their lives, the latest being that of Ebenezer Alaro, who was shot dead on Friday in Ilesa.