The Osun State government and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the state, on Wednesday, berated the All Progressives Congress(APC) and its National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, over their call on President Bola Tinubu to extend emergency rule imposition to Osun.
The Osun State Commissioner for Information and Civic Engagement, Kolapo Alimi, described the call for emergency rule in the state as callous, self-centred and unlawful.
Similarly, the spokesman for the Osun State PDP, Oladele Bamiji, accused Basiru and the APC of attempting to grab power through the backdoor after being rejected by the people at the polls.
On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in River State, suspending the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and the members of the state House of Assembly for six months.
The President also appointed a retired Naval chief, Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas, as the administrator of the state.
The President anchored his decision on the protracted political crisis between the governor and the lawmakers, with militants vandalising oil installations as the lawmakers pushed for the governor’s removal from office.
In a post on X.com following the President’s declaration of emergency rule, Basiru wrote: “Rivers State of Emergency: APC praises Tinubu, demands extension to Osun.”
In Osun State, the ruling PDP and the opposition APC are fighting for the control of the local government.
At the height of the crisis about three weeks ago, at least six persons were killed while the local government secretariats have become non-functional after workers withdrew their safety for fear of being caught up in the middle of political violence.
Backing Basiru, the Osun APC urged President Tinubu to extend emergency rule to Osun State.
Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said the PDP and Governor Ademola Adeleke had committed constitutional breaches that include an alleged attempt to remove the Osun Chief Judge, alleged killings of APC members during the 2022 general elections and disregard for court decisions.
Olabisi said, “The call by the APC National Secretary is in order. There is no constitutional breach that Fubara committed that Adeleke has not done the worst version of it here.
“He made an attempt to remove the Chief Judge; many APC members were killed during the 2022 general elections across the state; he disregarded valid court orders regarding the reinstated LG chairmen in the state.
“Adeleke has committed many constitutional breaches in this state to warrant imposition of emergency rule and we urge President Bola Tinubu to pay attention to what is happening in Osun and stop abuse of office by our governor. Senator Basiru is right and we stand by him.”
But in a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday, the Osun State government rejected the call by Basiru and the APC for a state of emergency in the state as “callous, self-centered and unlawful.”
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Civic Engagement, Kolapo Alimi, insisted that there was a clear difference between the current political development in Rivers and Osun when placed side by side.
Alimi advised Basiru and APC not to truncate the peace and tranquility currently enjoyed in Osun in an attempt to take the reigns of governance through the backdoor.
“I have read what the overambitious and loud-mouthed National Secretary of the APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, said concerning the need for the declaration of a state of emergency to be extended by President Bola Tinubu as done in Rivers State last night to Osun State.
“While the call, no doubt, stems from a demented mind, it will be recalled that the same Basiru had in the not too recent past made a similar call when I engaged him on a national television station on the Yes-No local government chairmen in Osun State.
“It must, however, be emphasised that not only Basiru alone holds this senseless and obnoxious impression but the entire APC cohorts and their members and followers in Osun state, who, on a daily basis, are scheming for one mischievous device or the other in order to come through the backdoor to take the reigns of governance in Osun State; but by the grace of God and with the support of the people of Osun State for the administration of Ademola Adeleke, all the evil machinations against the people-oriented government of Ademola Adeleke will not see the light of the day.”
The commissioner called on the President to see through the antics of those he called ‘rejected and frustrated politicians’ by rejecting the baseless call for the declaration of a state of emergency in Osun.
“For any political observers in Osun State, it’s very clear that the Osun APC lacks the popularity, political acceptance and sagacity to face and defeat Ademola Adeleke in any election, hence their resort to all forms of antics to get to power through the backdoor. One of such antics was their failed attempt to cause mayhem in the state through enforcement of a non-existent Court of Appeal judgment to reinstate their Yes-No chairmen and councillors. With that enforcement of the non-existent judgment, they almost put Osun into a state of anarchy.
“However, Governor Adeleke, being a man of peace and of the people, saw this coming, hence, the directive given to the duly elected local government chairmen in the state not to go to their various LG secretariats after the swearing-in ceremony. Had Governor Adeleke not been proactive and guided by great wisdom, only God would have known what the APC could have turned the state into while carrying out their awada Keri keri (comedy show) in the various LG secretariats of our dear state.”
Accusing APC of making an attempt to make Osun ungovernable, Alimi said three cases are pending before the courts of law regarding the tussle over control of local government areas in the state involving the government and Osun APC.
“With all these, couldn’t Basiru read in between the lines that the matters at hand are all legal issues, which should also be resolved through the court as opposed to calling for the declaration of the state of emergency?”
Similarly rejecting the call for a state of emergency in Osun, the Osun PDP spokesman, Bamiji, described Basiru’s call as reckless, maintaining that the situation in Rivers was different from that of Osun.
Bamiji said, “We take exception to the outrageous call by the former Senator and the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress calling for the imposition of a state of emergency on Osun State. I think that statement was not only reckless but dangerous and demeaning of Mr Basiru’s standing, at least as a former senator and the national scribe of the APC.”
The PDP described Basiru’s push for a state of emergency in Osun as a ploy by the APC to grab power through the backdoor.
Bamiji said, “The impression to us and the watching members of the public is that the APC has found a new shortcut of taking back states of the federation where their party has lost and rejected. Maybe that of the Rivers where they’ve contested the river through the pronouncement of the President yesterday which is being widely contested, I don’t know whether Mr Basiru is reading the reactions of the various segments of the country.
“Rivers is different from Osun. The political logjam there is different from what we have here. There is nothing near a breakdown of governance in Osun State. The state government is running well. The state Assembly is there and the judiciary has no problem.
“We cannot now say because there are issues being trashed out at the local government, which is normal in politics anywhere in the world. There would always be altercations here and there. So, the national secretary of the APC should not be creating the impression that they can lose the election in the open field and take such state back through the backdoor, especially, through the force of the state of emergency.”
