Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan
The Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday came hard on the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, describing as tactless and disrespectful its attacks on the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere for intervening on what it termed the needless crisis being caused by the party over local government management in the state.
The PDP, in a statement by the state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Akeem Olatunji, told the APC its attack on Afenifere as well as its aimless plot to derail Governor Seyi Makinde’s government were ill-winds that will eventually consume the opponents of the administration in the state.
Olatunji noted that the intervention of the pan-Yoruba body, which warned the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police not to cause crisis in Oyo State by taking actions that are not backed by law, was not out of order.
He added that the pan-Yoruba body had, by that intervention, indeed, played its fatherly role, calling on Afenifere leaders to ignore the hogwash from the Oyo APC, which like most of its members in the South-west, were hellbent on selling Yoruba to slavery.
According to him, the Afenifere’s renown as the defender and protector of Yorubaland in the socio-political spheres made it imperative for it to speak up against the APC’s maniacal desire and plans to destroy Oyo State and make it ungovernable following its loss of the state after eight years.
He lauded the pan-Yoruba body for speaking up, as has been its wont for decades since its establishment, against tyranny and attempts to distract Governor Makinde and lead the people of the state into traps set by haters of progress in the APC.
The PDP noted further that it was not surprised by the disrespectful and thoughtless attacks mounted against Afenifere in the Oyo APC’s statement, stating that the party was only acting the scripts written by its leaders “who have been in the business of trying to destroy Afenifere but to no avail.”
The statement read, “One read with sadness the tactless and thoughtless remarks made by the Oyo State APC against the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere following its intervention on the needless crisis being caused by the APC in Oyo State over the dissolution of illegal local government leadership.
“While we are not surprised that the APC is acting true to type as haters of peace and enemies of progress, one would not have imagined that they could go as far as riding roughshod on Afenifere, which has remained the greatest and boldest protector of Yoruba interests in the socio-political sphere.
“But then, while we are disappointed that the APC in its jaundiced and not-well-thought-out statement could disrespect the pan-Yoruba body publicly and give more grounds for outsiders to disregard the body, we encourage Afenifere to continue to stand by what is right and speak up against tyranny.
“Our fathers and elders in Afenifere should ignore the rants of the rude losers in Oyo APC and put to mind the Yoruba saying that “ti ile ba ntoro, omo ale inu re ni ko tii d’agba” (any house that is experiencing peace and harmony should be watchful, as the bastards of the house may still be at infancy).”
On some of the points raised by the APC upon which it premised the attack on Afenifere, Olatunji maintained that though it would not have loved to give vent to the baseless rants of the APC, especially since the matter was in court, it would still set the records straight so that members of the public would not be confused.
The PDP stated that the Governor and the Oyo State House of Assembly did not err by dissolving the illegal chairmen, as the election that brought them in was ultra vires in that it was conducted into local governments and also LCDA entities not recognised by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The party further argued that the fact that it did not participate in the sham of an election conducted on May 12, 2020 due to its obvious unconstitutionality and lack of a level playing field could not be enough ground for Makinde to allow the illegality to stand.
“We know the APC and their devil-given talent of lies and propaganda; they are trying to pull the wool over the face of the public with different lies all in a bid to cause chaos in Oyo State. But they have failed.
“Since there are pending appeals on the local government, which the APC sacked chairmen were party to, any sane human being would have been expected to wait for the outcome of those appeals instead of resorting to self-help by seeking to enforce a judgment on matters concerning Ekiti State in Oyo State, despite the fact that the case, according to the parlance in legal circles, is not on all fours with the Oyo State dissolution matter.
“Unfortunately for the APC, no matter how much they try, the Makinde administration cannot be distracted.
“And now that the High Court of Oyo State has acted on the side of the people by granting restraining order against the sacked chairmen, we believe that it will be in the APC’s best interest to obey that order. Failure to do so will make their lackeys parading themselves as ALGON members, who have turned themselves into burglars breaking into local government secretariats, liable to prosecution”, he said.
