The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State has raised the alarm over an alleged plan by purported Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, local government executives to forcefully take over council secretariats across the state.
The party called on security agencies to take preventive measures against what it described as a planned invasion of the 30 local government secretariats and the Area Office on Thursday.
In a statement issued by its Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, the Osun APC alleged that the purported PDP chairmen and councillors had concluded plans to mobilise political hoodlums from within and outside the state to execute the takeover.
According to the party, “the alleged invasion was expected to be carried out with the assistance of political hoodlums allegedly recruited from within and outside Osun State.”
The APC further claimed that the purported council executives had made arrangements to deploy the alleged recruits to the various council secretariats as part of the takeover plan.
The party linked the alleged development to the political situation surrounding Governor Ademola Adeleke, claiming that the governor’s re-election had given the purported PDP council executives the confidence to regroup and pursue the alleged plan.
It also alleged that officials of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, were involved in the purported plan, accusing the union of acting as “willing tools of the state government.”
The APC cited a Supreme Court judgment relating to one of the legal actions filed by the purported PDP council executives, claiming that the court had referred to them as persons unknown to the law.
Against this backdrop, the party appealed to the Osun State Police Command, Department of State Services, DSS, and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, to strengthen security around the council secretariats and prevent any incident capable of threatening public order.
“There is no tact and diplomacy in a set of hoodlums teaming up to promote disruption of public peace in the state on a matter that is still very much alive in the Court of Appeal,” the statement said.
The APC also called on the purported PDP local government chairmen to refrain from taking matters into their own hands and allow the courts to resolve the dispute.
The party maintained that all sides involved in the controversy should respect the ongoing judicial process and await the final determination of the courts.
“Any step that the aggrieved purported PDP local government council chairmen may take other than recourse to the court has no other name than a monumental illegality,” the APC said.
The party further recalled the killing of one of the reinstated APC council chairmen, Honourable Remi Abass of Irewole Local Government Area, who it said was allegedly killed by suspected PDP thugs.
According to the APC, suspects in connection with the killing are currently standing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The party said the controversy surrounding the tenure of the reinstated APC local government executives remained before the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State.
It therefore urged security agencies to closely monitor the activities of the purported PDP council executives and NULGE officials in the event of any development that could lead to a breakdown of law and order.
As of the time of filing this report, neither the Osun State chapter of the PDP nor the state government had responded to the allegations.
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