Civil Societies Condemn Petition against Aregbesola, Decry Rising Insecurity in Osun

Yinka Kolawole

The Osun Civil Societies Coalition (OCSC) yesterday dissociated itself from a petition written by some individuals against the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola under the platform of ‘Civil Society Coalition in Osun State.’

According OCSC, the said petition was politically motivated, declaring that the rising rate of thuggery is a dangerous trend that is already posing threat to people’s lives and property in the state.

The Chairman, OCSC, Comrade Waheed Lawal and Vice Chairman Comrade Wole Folaranmi who addressing a press conference yesterday at Odiolowo, Osogbo, said there was no sincerity in the petition which they noted was sponsored by some political elements.

For instance, Lawal warned the individuals against impersonating and using OCSC for political interest, stating that the organisations with which the individuals wrote petition against Aregbesola are not members of the coalition in Osun.

“We suspect that the action of the petitioners was politically motivated for pecuniary gains. And the said individuals were hurriedly put together by political elements who needed the service of available corruptible civil society groups to drive their selfish interest.”

Also speaking, Folaranmi, said: “We acknowledge individual’s right of association and freedom of speech, but freedom without responsibility will give room for shenanigans.

“We state with all modesty that all the issues raised in the said petition are half-truth and there is no sincerity, fairness and objectivity in it.

“However, we don’t want to join issue with anybody. We ordinarily wanted to keep silent on the petition but because of the confusion and mistaken identity that it has generated, this press conference is needed for clarification.”

Speaking on the insecurity in the state, the coalition lamented that Osun is no longer a safe state that it used to be, calling all security agencies to up their ante and restore peace to the state.

According to them the political gladiators should not turn Osun to a battle ground where the use of hoodlums with dangerous weapon is the order of the day.

The civil societies also called on all the security agencies in Osun state to act fast in restoring the lost glory of Osun as one of the safest states in Nigeria.

They specifically called on the

Commissioner of Police Mr. Olawale Olokode, to rise up to the core duty of policing in the state.

“There is need to do more on the police activities as regard preventing and curtailing violence and other crimes, investigations and prosecution of the real perpetrators of crimes without fear or favour. Osun belongs to every one of us. We will not watch it turned to an unsafe state for us. This is hearth-breaking. Osogbo, the state capital, is now an abode for both cultists and thugs. “

According to him, “The Area in Council in Iree, the host community of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, also declared curfew because of armed robbery, kidnapping and ritual killings in the town few weeks ago. Cultists and hoodlums have been terrorising Ilesa and Ede consistently, leaving nothing less than 18 people dead. “

They also recalled how recently, the Ooni of Ile-Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi declared a dusk to dawn curfew because of the incessant armed robbery in the city.

Meanwhile, loyalists of Aregbesola yesterday protested in his hometown, Ilesa, against his humiliation and mockery by some people in Lagos.

Video of some people in Alimosho local government, Lagos, had circulated on social media, carrying a casket with the inscription of the Minister for his failure to win Saturday’s governorship primary in Osun for his factional candidate.

In a reprisal protest, loyalists of Aregbesola in Isokun, Ilesa, trooped out in protest and condemned the mockery.

Addressing Journalists, a former Chairman of Ilesa West local Government, Alh Azeez Adeniji, said Aregbesola does not deserve the treatment given him in Lagos because he served Senator Bola Tinubu wholeheartedly.

He noted that the former Governor of Osun state began his political career in Alimosho under the Lagos leadership of the late Dapo Sarumi where he met Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu In 1991.

Adeniji said: “Asiwaju, who was just cutting his political teeth then, approached him (Aregbesola) to help with the Alimosho votes in the Lagos West primaries which he did, enabling him to become the candidate of the SDP and eventually won the election.

According to him “At the return of civil democratic rule in 1999, Asiwaju being fully convinced he was the man he needed asked him to head his governorship campaign.”

“Aregbesola dexterously won him the Alliance for Democracy (AD) primary and governorship election against the candidature of the very formidable Chief Funso Williams and opposition of some powerful Afenifere chieftains. Aregbesola’s political stock continues to rise, beyond Alimosho, covering Lagos State and beyond, culminating in his election as governor of his home state, Osun, where he served two terms.”

“Among his exploits were winning the entire Lagos state for Asiwaju in every election since 2003 and being the only South West state won by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN in the 2011 presidential election.

He was still able to win the governorship election of 2018 for his successor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, despite his not being a popular candidate and not coming from the preferred zone.