The Governorship Campaign Council of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun state has slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for its violent nature, calling any attempt to blame it for the attack on the convoy of Governor Gboyega Oyetola as desperation taken too far.
In a statement by the Director General of the Council, Hon Sunday Bisi, the PDP while sympathising with the injured members of the media recalled that APC in Osun state has a history of violent attacks due to her intra-party feud, warning the ruling party not to turn the state into a war zone.
According to the statement, the state APC has unenviable records of more than ten intra-party violent incidents involving gun assaults and deployment of factional thugs openly endorsed by various forces within the party, wondering why Senator Ajibola Bashiru is engaging in blame game at the performance of their boys.
We call on the APC not to compound the challenges facing the good people of Osun state. The least Governor Oyetola could do for Osun state is to leave in peace when he is voted out in July. His deliberate arming and sponsoring of thugs is reprehensible. His plan to sew police uniforms for miscreants is the height of irresponsible state conduct.
As a party, we assure the general public that our members have nothing to do with the incident. It is a known fact that the PDP, unlike the APC do not harbour thugs. We find it ludicrous for a party that parades the likes of Asiri Eniba and other dangerous thugs who have for long terrorise Osun people to blame us for the monster it created.
Our preliminary findings revealed that trouble started when loads of thugs in company of Governor Oyetola tried to intimidate the people of Gbongan by shooting sporadically into the air. However, the people of Gbongan refused to be intimidated and mobilized to counter what seems like a needless attack on them by hauling stones at the convoy.
What happened was unfortunate and could have been avoided but for Governor Oyetola who patronize thugs to silence citizens who are not impressed by his poor performance in office. It is shameful, to say, the least that Governor Oyetola and his party, APC, choose the dishonourable route of blaming our innocent party to hide the truth.
We must warn that our party will not tolerate ridiculous lies against it and alert the general public to be wary of APC shameless antics to curry undeserved sympathy. Our party is peace loving and we have demonstrated this much in the last twelve years as an opposition.
We call on security agencies to investigate and reveal the truth on the incident. We also stress the need for security agencies to ensure the protection all citizens of Osun state and not just members of the APC.
