· Calls for immediate redeployment of Ogun CP
· Asks residents to defend themselves if attacked by political thugs
By Gboyega Akinsanmi
Former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has defended the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) of All Progressives Congress (APC) to suspend the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, citing different infractions of the APC Constitution by the governor.
Osoba, Chairman of the APC Constitution Drafting Committee, has also called for the redeployment of the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ahmed Iliyasu, alleging that the police chief has closed his eyes to the misbehavior of the state governorship candidate of Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Hon. Adekunle Akinlade.
He made the calls Monday night during an interview with journalists in his Bourdillon residence, disclosing that Amosun visited the Presidential Villa 28 times within five weeks to reverse the outcome of the October 2, 2018 primaries that produced the APC governorship candidate in the state, Mr. Dapo Abiodun.
At the session, Osoba justified the decision of the NWC, noting that the NWC “will not just wake one morning and suspend Amosun without following due process. We have complained about his anti-party activities on different occasions. The ward has complained. The local government has complained.
“The State Caretaker Working Committee, which Amosun claims he does not recognise, has complained about his anti-party activities. He provoked us on the day President Muhammadu Buhari came by bringing APM banners, billboards and symbol to the venue of our presidential campaign in Abeokuta. Amosun is lucky that our people are well- disciplined and responsible.
“We equally supplied the video-tape where Amosun said he would destroy the APC in Ogun State. What evidence do we need? Amosun has been on his anti-party activities since October 2, 2018. That was the date we held our governorship primaries in line with the guidelines of the NWC,” the former governor said.
Osoba, also, explained how Amosun had said in different fora that the APC would lose the governorship election in Ogun State on December 31, 2018 and cited different media reports on Amosun’s threat to undermine the APC in the state.
He added that all the reports were attached to the documents the chapter sent “to the NWC. It was published on the front page of Punch. We attached a copy of that newspaper.”
At another point, according to the former governor, Amosun threatened to work against the APC governorship candidate in Ogun State, Mr. Dapo Abiodun. We attached that document too. We do not have to expose the internal working of the NWC. The NWC cannot just suspend him without due process.
Osoba, also, lamented Akinlade’s misbehaviour during the presidential and National Assembly elections in Ogun State, alleging that the APM candidate was going about with armed police and the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
He called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu to redeploy Iliyasu, the police commissioner from Ogun State, noting that Iliyasu “is not supposed to be the Commissioner of Police in an enlightened state like Ogun State.”
He explained that the police commissioner “closed his eyes to Akinlade’s misbehaviour. I keep saying Iliyasu is not supposed to be the police commissioner in an enlightened state like Ogun State. He should be kicked out of the state.
“He closed his eyes, and one of his boys was killed on the way to Ilaro in Ogun West. One of the police officers was killed when they wanted to ambush the election result. If he is on ground, he will not go and ambush the election result.”
“I am upset with him because I deserve protection. As a citizen of Ogun State, I pay Ogun State in millions of Naira annually. Let the governor himself disclose my tax profile. I am among the first ten citizens that pay the highest tax to the Ogun State Government. I demand the right of protection from Iliyasu.
“He has failed woefully. If the Commander-in-Chief was pelted with water sachets with a good number of police officers surrounding hoodlums on the day the president visited Abeokuta and none of the hoodlums was arrested, we do not need any analyst to know that the police commissioner is a total failure.
“God forbid. If anything had hit Mr. President that day and he collapsed, what will we say in Ogun State? Out of 36 states the president travelled to, Ogun State is the only state where such an incident happened. The police commissioner did not arrest one suspect. I went to the president a week after and asked him: what is going on?
A whole Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was stoned. The Nigeria Police is part of the Armed Forces. If not for the presidential guard seizing and stopping the pelted objects from getting to the president, the story will have been different. Even, the domestic assistant to the president fell flat before Mr. President that day.
“I once told the president that they were tearing and defacing your billboards. Mr. President himself answered if it happened in the North, it could lead to riot. Yet, the police commissioner did not arrest any suspect. As for me, Iliyasu is of no value. What can the police commissioner do to us? We have told our people to be ready.
“The law says you have the right to defend yourself. The right to self-defence is entrenched in our Constitution. We have resorted to self-defence. Let one million Iliyasu be made police commissioner, we will cast our votes in peaceful manner.
“So, his presence has energised our people. I have gone round to preach to them. Forget about the police commissioner and not the rank and file. But those who are backing him will regret on Saturday when we deliver the governorship election in Ogun State to the APC and Mr. President who has won his election. I do not need the police. When you are in the majority, God is with you.”
