PDP Accuses Osun Gov of Intolerance

PDP Accuses Osun Gov of Intolerance

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wednesday berated the administration of the Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, labelling it as intolerant and insensitive for ensuring that one of its members, Saheed Akinloye, was remanded in prison over a Facebook post.

Akinloye was on Tuesday arraigned before a Magistrate for alleging in a Facebook post that the Osun State Government imported into the state COVID-19 patients in order to claim money from the federal government.

However, the PDP in a statement issued yesterday by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Prince Diran Odeyemi, and made available to THISDAY in Ibadan, questioned the insistence of the Magistrate on sending Akinloye to remand for a bailable offence.

He said the insistence of the state Ministry of Justice represented by its acting Permanent Secretary, the Director of Public Prosecution and three other counsel in court to take over the case was an indication that the administration of Oyetola has already commenced clampdown on the opposition.

He wondered why a government that could not provide food for 20 per cent of its citizens, imported adulterated rice for them and still ordered they should stay at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus, would only be jeered back to life when an opposition was to be dealt with.

The party chieftain recalled all sort of ‘satanic’ Facebook posts, reckless utterances by the state government officials and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) targeted at PDP and its members in the past which never attracted any serious reaction from the party.

Odeyemi then urged Oyetola to speed up investigation into the supply of adulterated rice by members of his cabinet and prominent members of APC, saying those involved were the real enemies of the state.

He disclosed that Akinloye is just a passionate indigene, who expressed candid opinion on the mystery around ghostly coronavirus patients in Ejigbo isolation centre and should not be killed in detention, as being insinuated by some people.

The statement read in part: “Oyetola and APC in Osun State are setting a bad precedence. They won’t be in power for ever, and whatever they are doing now will shape the future of political engagement in the state.

“Imagine an administration that brought into the state adulterated rice for its people, although owned up to it that it brought the rice and had already commenced investigation. But rather than complete the investigation and bring those who actually attempted genocide to book, the administration is busy hounding an enthusiastic, curious indigene that expressed a mere opinion on Facebook.

“But one is not totally surprised, considering the manner of emergence and baggage of alleged corrupt act that the administration had laboriously struggled with in the past few months. Is it not tantamount to engaging fire spitting Sango to search for a lost needle, when the Ministry of Justice had to mount pressure and insisted on taking over a matter that should have been left to police to prosecute?

“When will Oyetola complete investigation into the supply of adulterated rice and prosecute those that perpetrated the act? Those exposed on Facebook page of one ‘Osun Media Guru’ as the suppliers are all APC members and officials in the cabinet of Oyetola. We also have the list and we look forward to the day these men will appear before court.”

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