As the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State plans to hold a zonal rally for the South West geo-political zone in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Saturday, there have been accusations and counter accusations between the party and the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state.
PDP, on Thursday accused APC of plotting to disrupt the planned rally violently. This was contained in a press release signed by the Publicity Secretary of the party in Osun, Hon. Sunday Bisi, a copy, which was made available to DAILY POST in Osogbo.
According to Bisi, the party got an intelligence report that some key officials of the state government, on the directive of the State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had been holding several nocturnal meetings to fine-tune strategies of scuttling the rally.
“Part of the plans to disrupt our planned Zonal rally on Saturday was to mobilise hundreds of hoodlums to tear and deface PDP posters pasted in Osogbo, Olorunda, Egbedore, Irepodun and other Local governments in the next 24 hours.
“The State government has also commenced a clampdown on former stalwarts of the APC who have decided to decamp to the PDP on Saturday in order to intimidate them ahead of the event.
“For example, a foremost grassroots mobiliser Alhaji Fatai Diekola who has renounced his membership of the APC and set to make an open declaration on Saturday is to be arrested and detained on trumped up charges tomorrow.
“The plan is to prevent him from leading over seven thousand APC members to join the PDP at the rally which will be attended by the National chairman of the party and other leaders from across the country.
“The trained hoodlums have also been unleashed to threaten and molest former APC members in Osogbo,Odo Otin, Ila, Oriade, Iwo, Ilesha East, and other local governments who have decided to attend Saturday’s rally and formally join forces with other well meaning people to chase out the oppressive regime of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in September.
The PDP hereby calls on security agencies to take note of this critical information and act to prevent them accordingly”, Bisi said.
In a swift reaction from APC to the allegations, therefore, the Director of Publicity and Strategy of the party, Mr Kunle Oyatomi in a statement described the allegation as an expression of acute hallucination from the PDP, saying that it did not appear as if the party is serious about the planned rally.
“Neither APC nor Aregbesola planned to expend precious energy and time to worry about a party like the PDP that is disintegrating.
“All the nonsense fictitious plan by us to disrupt their rally on Saturday is the product of their agitated mind and fear of the unknown.
”Between the APC and the PDP, the latter is the one notorious for violence. But if they want to deceive themselves that the APC bothers about them, that’s because they have lost it”, Oyatomi said.
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