The Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Osun State, Prince Adegboyega Famodun, has said Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has no reason to unleash mayhem on a state he has sacrificed so much for .
He added that Osun APC had no reason also to disrupt any meeting or deploy trouble-makers against any group since lines are already falling for the party in pleasant places.
This followed allegations by members of a group loyal to former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, known as ‘TOP’, that Oyetola and the Osun APC were responsible for the disruption of the group’s meeting and attack on Oranmiyan House last Thursday.
But Famodun, at a press conference at the APC State Secretariat, Ogo-Oluwa, Osogbo, on Tuesday, described the allegation as uncouth, ill-mannered, reckless and libelous by a group of politicians stuck in transit and heading nowhere.
Famodun noted that TOP was nothing more than a club of rabble rousers, whose main objective was to disrupt the peace of Osun, put the State in bad light and create the impression that all was not well with the All Progressives Congress in the State.
According to him, the aim of their protest was to get a leverage for a single entity who believe he should be the ’emperor’ of the State, adding that TOP’S ambition was both self-serving and inimical to the interest of the Party and the State in general.
The newly-inaugurated Osun APC Chairman, who extolled the peaceful demeanour of Oyetola, said it defied reasoning for anyone to attribute violence to the person and office of the Governor, who has proved his interest in building and developing Osun beyond doubts.
“Calling the dog a bad name to hang it is the TOP stock-in-trade. The APC in Osun is one. The Governor is a gentleman who fixes , builds and improves lives. He is not given to frivolities. He has a second address unlike the desperate TOP men who have nothing else to their name except blackmail and deceit.
“Let me also state categorically here that Governor Oyetola has no reason to unleash mayhem on his own State, a State reputed for peace. The party has no reason to disrupt any meeting or deploy trouble-makers. The lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. God is working for us because the Governor has a divine mandate.
“It is the little minds of TOP leaders who could not deliver on any of their promises to the people they are leading that are desperate, and desperate men are dangerous men. They could not get their ‘executives’ at any level ratified by the national headquarters. They lost their case in court. They held a ‘primary’ that led to an implosion. Their ‘leading candidates’ are in disarray. The one that could find money to buy form has been isolated by the two who have no money.
“We call on the security agencies to keep an eye on TOP and its desperate men. They are running wild and a rabid dog is a bad dog”, Famodun stated.
On the attack of the Oranmiyan House, Famodun described the incident as a consequenceof the group’s inability to keep its pact with its followers.
He continued: “We know that the group is smarting from their many defeats, dizzy from the knocks from the court, the rejection of their concocted congresses by the APC National Headquaters and they’re trying to save face by all means possible.
“The so-called leaders of the group had assured their poor followers that their lifeless, laughable case in court would make them ‘King’ of the Osun manor’. The Top Leaders had bragged that their little meetings they called a parallel congress will be ratified in Abuja and Mr Salinsile will become the party Chairman in Osun.
“But those were just empty boasts of little men to their unsuspecting followers. When their lies started unraveling early in the week, they knew the game was up and they began grabbing at straws to stay afloat for a few more days. That was what all the arranged meetings and conspiracy theories of the last few days were about”, he added.
Famodun also bemoaned the persecution of the Osun Commissioner of Police, CP Wale Olokode, by the TOP group, saying that Olokode and the Osun State Police Command have been professional and honourable in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.
“As for their campaign of calumny against the Commissioner of Police, Osun Command, Olokode, we know where they are coming from. The Command has rejected every offer and attempt to be pocketed by TOP. CP Wale Olokode’s only offense is that he remained true to his mandate to protect the people of Osun.
“It is because TOP has not been able to control and use the Police the way it has used the Nigerian Civil Defense Corps men that they are persecuting Mr Olokode. The CP has chosen to remain a professional and honourable man but then, the men in TOP are allergic to the concept of honour.
“In one breath, they accused the Commissioner of Police of not living to billing and in another, they berated him for rounding up suspects too quickly. They need to make up their minds whether they are leaders, elders or aiders and abbeters of crimes and criminals. They need to decide whether they want to be part of the progress in Osun and the progressive party, APC or they want to heat up the polity and pull down every good thing the party stands for”, Famodun added.
