THE All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo State have differed on the fresh attack in Igangan, one of the towns in Ibarapaland, as scores of people were reported dead, following the invasion of the town by some suspected Fulani hardsmen, numbering 50 on Saturday night.
While the APC alleged that insecurity had been aggravated in the state since the advent of the Governor Seyi Makinde administration, the PDP claimed that the former was raising a false alarm, adding that attempt by the opposition party in the state to politicise the killings in Igangan was wicked and an unruly display of mindless politics.
PDP in the state also said that the leadership of the APC in Oyo State and the country at large, must bury their heads in shame “each time we discuss security matters in Nigeria.”
APC, on Sunday evening, in a statement issued by its caretaker Publicity Secretary, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olatunde, had described the killing of not more than 20 residents of Igangan in Ibarapaland by some suspected Fulani hardsmen, as one mayhem too many, berating the state government of failing to nip the festering challenges of insecurity in the bud.
The party queried the essence of the monthly security vote being collected by the governor, which APC said, Makinde could not channel towards securing the lives and property of residents and indigenes of Ibarapaland effectively.
The statement added: “For how long should Gov Seyi Makinde continue his buck passing?”
“What is the essence of the monthly security vote our governor collects if it could not be channeled towards securing the lives and property of the residents and indigenes of Oyo State?”
“Obviously and certainly, the current situation of Oyo State was not what was the government of Engr Seyi Makind and PDP took over from APC government of Sen Abiola Ajimobi in 2019.”
“APC Oyo State won’t stop to advise the Government of Engr Seyi Makimde Governor of Oyo State to be proactive and stop playing lip service and politicking with the security issues of Oyo State.”
“The excuse of general security issues has been with us in Nigeria since 2009 even before the tenure of the then ACN Government led by Sen Abiola Ajimobi took over the mantle of governance in 2011, but despite that secured Oyo State people’s lives and property which was the major reason Sen Abiola Ajimobi was the first Governor of Oyo State to be appreciated with appreciation awards right, left and center after his tenure.”
“Retrospectively, all governments would always have it’s own challenges but failure to nip the festering challenges in the bud is what differentiate failed government as being witnessed in Oyo State under Engr Seyi Makinde from what obtained under APC government of Sen Abiola Ajimobi whose number one achievement for its 8 years tenure was security of lives and property. “
“Whenever PDP government is shown its failed score card on security, they would always pass the buck by deflecting away with excuse as if it requires rocket science formulae to secure lives and property.”
“Finally, we urge Gov Seyi Makinde to call a security summit in order to find lasting solutions to the security challenges facing us in Oyo State and forget the rhetorics of having Amotekun and Operation Burst that have shown to be ineffective so far because it is obvious that there are security lapses all over Oyo State, at least the governor recently admitted the carnage that occurred in Eruwa, Ibarapa East during the OYSIEC LG election of Saturday May 22, 2021.”
“Imagine the palace of Asigangan of Igangan, many innocent lives and properties like houses and fuel filling stations and even a lot of ancient archival property lost in one fell swoop.”
“For how long shall we continue to mourn the loss of innocent lives that is avoidable,” APC lamented.
But, in a swift reaction to the APC’s statement, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Oyo State, ‘Seyi Makinde; Mr. Taiwo Adisa, declared that the statement credited to the APC on the killings in Igangan, which attempted to blame Governor Makinde, as a wicked attempt to dance on the grave of the dead.
Adisa, in a statement also on Sunday, said:”We all know the state of security of Nigeria when the APC took over in 2015. We knew that the much talked about insurgency was restricted to three states of the North East, while kidnapping was wiped out from South East.”
“Even though the leadership of APC complained loudest against the government of President Goodluck Jonathan at the time, the situation Nigeria found itself under President Buhari’s APC is nothing comparable to the sanity we all enjoyed under Jonathan.”
“It is obvious the APC was merely in a power grab mission, without a clue of what is needed to fix Nigeria.”
“As we speak, insecurity has been weaponised and decentralised, while all parts of the country have become endangered. Even the President’s own state of Katsina is not spared as the sad incidents of kidnapping and killings continue to happen even during his official visits to the state.”
“The APC in Oyo State has zero justification to comment on the security situation in the state, as we all know that the Constitution of Nigeria has completely vested the command and control of security agencies in the President. If the President has refused to use his constitutionally granted power to curb insecurity, why should members of his party attempt to shift the blame to Governor Makinde, who has provided needed logistics for all security agencies in the state, while also setting up homegrown initiatives to tackle insecurity.”
“If the APC leaders want to be patriotic, they will call on the leader of their party, President Buhari, to wake up and stop the unwarranted killings across the land: kidnapping of school children and other innocent Nigerians and fix the economy.”
“The APC campaigned on three fronts in 2015 and 2019: to fix security, economy and fight corruption.”
“Those three areas have only been worsened in the six years of its leadership with live suddenly becoming brutish and short, while Nigeria is fast drifting to a pariah state with the recent ban on Twitter.”
“Rather than seek to grandstand and dance on the grave of our innocent compatriots from Igangan, who were hacked down by agents of darkness, the APC should mount the podium in the 33 local governments of Oyo State and apologize for bringing a clueless government that has totally demobilised the nation’s security.”
“Finally, the leadership of APC in Oyo State cannot use the Igangan crisis to stage a comeback to reckoning as even the South West APC leaders’ meeting held in Lagos last month did not feature any prominent APC leader from Oyo State.”
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