Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has described a statement by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, ahead of Saturday’s governorship election as an indication that the All Progressives Congress plans to rig the poll.

Adeleke made the allegation in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, and obtained by our correspondent in Osogbo on Sunday.

The PUNCH reports that Oyetola had on Saturday urged Adeleke to prepare for defeat in the August 15 governorship election, saying his endorsement of President Bola Tinubu would not save his administration.

Oyetola spoke while addressing APC stakeholders and supporters in Osun State.

The former governor, who lost his re-election bid to Adeleke in the 2022 governorship election, was responding to allegations by Adeleke that APC members and leaders of the Accord were being intimidated ahead of the poll.

Speaking in Yoruba, Oyetola said Adeleke’s complaints showed that the governor had realised he was losing his grip on the state.

He said Adeleke’s endorsement of Tinubu would not prevent the APC from reclaiming the governorship seat.

Oyetola said, “They realised that they are already losing out. Then they claimed to have endorsed us. He almost cried. Endorsement cannot retain this seat for you. We are taking it over.

“If you like, make 10 endorsements, we will collect this one from you.”

Reacting, Adeleke described Oyetola’s comment as an “open threat” to rig the governorship election and called on democracy advocates to take note of the development.

He vowed that the people of Osun State would resist any attempt to manipulate the August 15 election and demanded a free and fair poll.

According to the statement, Oyetola had condemned Adeleke’s endorsement of Tinubu for another term in 2027, saying in Yoruba, “A maa gba lowo e,” meaning “we will snatch it from him.”

Adeleke said his endorsement of Tinubu was an indication of his electoral strength and his ability to deliver Osun votes to the President in 2027.

He alleged that Oyetola’s activities were damaging Tinubu’s image and weakening the APC’s standing in the state.

Adeleke said, “Oyetola’s anti-people, anti-democracy activities are tarnishing the image of Mr President and deepening the unpopularity of Osun APC among voters and residents.

“A serving minister of the Republic had made an open threat against a free and fair election. The minister has personally confirmed all previous reports that Osun APC has lost the electoral confidence of the people and is therefore focused only on rigging next Saturday.

“The minister has made a mockery of innocent Accord members who were killed and maimed by APC thugs in cold blood in the last two months. He has told the world that he is pushing to deny the people their rights to vote and be voted for.

“The bad news for the minister is that Osun people are determined to resist his sadistic agenda. Our people rejected him in 2022, and they will reject his surrogate candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, next Saturday.

“As for us, we are winning this election by the grace of God and mass support of the people. We are not going to snatch the democratic rights of the people as Mr Oyetola had threatened. We will be re-elected by the choice of the voters.”

Source: punchng.com

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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of sustaining a campaign of “lies, political manipulation and orchestrated deceit” against him for more than two decades, saying the former president’s latest allegations are collapsing “like a pack of cards.”

Atiku stated this on Sunday through his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, in a reaction to a recent claim by Obasanjo that the former vice president mobilised the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, to remove him from office during their tenure between 1999 and 2007.

Obasanjo reportedly made the allegation on July 23, reviving one of the long-running political controversies surrounding his relationship with Atiku.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Ibe said it had become a pattern for Obasanjo to revive allegations of betrayal and corruption against Atiku whenever an election cycle approaches.

“This time, he chose to make a man who passed away nearly three years ago the subject of his baseless allegation,” Ibe said.

He added that Na’Abba, who died in 2023, could no longer respond to the allegation, describing the claim as malicious.

Ibe, however, cited former member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Bwari, who served as Chief Whip during the 1999-2007 sessions, as contradicting Obasanjo’s account.

According to Bwari, Na’Abba never sought Obasanjo’s removal, adding, however, that Atiku instead acted as an emissary to lawmakers on behalf of the former president.

The Atiku camp also challenged another narrative surrounding the relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku during the build-up to the 2003 presidential election.

Ibe cited a video in which former Abia State governor and then Peoples Democratic Party governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, said it was Atiku who knelt before PDP governors to seek their support for Obasanjo’s re-election.

“Atiku knelt down; we were like 17 governors. He knelt down for us and said that he does not want to be disloyal to Obasanjo. That four years is like four days,” Kalu was quoted as saying.

According to Ibe, Kalu’s account contradicted claims allegedly promoted by Obasanjo’s camp that the former president had been forced to kneel before Atiku to secure the latter’s support for a second term.

Ibe further quoted Kalu as saying that PDP governors had been making arrangements that could have resulted in Atiku emerging as president but that Atiku declined to betray Obasanjo, who had previously entrusted him with the position of vice president.

“Atiku was almost a President. We had gotten everyone to postpone the (PDP) convention and had gotten what we needed to move forward, but he (Atiku) said this man (Obasanjo) trusted him, and allowed him to work with him. That he cannot betray Obasanjo,” Kalu said, according to the statement.

The statement also revisited one of the most contentious episodes in the political relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku: the investigation into the Petroleum Technology Development Fund shortly before the 2007 presidential election.

Obasanjo had asked the Senate to investigate alleged financial impropriety involving the PTDF.

Atiku denied wrongdoing and presented himself for investigation, arguing that the funds in question remained in fixed deposit accounts.

Atiku also maintained at the time that the allegations were politically motivated and linked to his opposition to Obasanjo’s controversial bid for a third term in office.

Ibe relied on accounts contained in the autobiography of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, titled Awujale, to further challenge the narrative surrounding the PTDF controversy.

According to Ibe, Oba Adetona’s account detailed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s treatment of Globacom Chairman, Mike Adenuga, during the period.

The statement quoted Oba Adetona as writing that EFCC officials went to Adenuga’s Lagos residence on July 9, 2006, broke through the gate and kept him under arrest before he was subsequently released after questioning.

“The EFCC purportedly were on the trail of some money belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, but there was really more beneath the veneer,” Oba Adetona wrote, according to the statement.

Ibe alleged that the investigation was part of an effort to connect Adenuga to Atiku over claims concerning PTDF funds.

He further rejected the allegation that Adenuga used money from the PTDF to pay for Globacom’s operating licence, saying the businessman obtained financing from BNP Paribas Bank for the transaction.

The statement also drew attention to Oba Adetona’s account of his dealings with Adenuga after the businessman’s detention and subsequent departure from Nigeria.

According to the late monarch’s account, Obasanjo later met Adenuga at a social event and subsequently invited him to Ota, where he allegedly requested the Globacom chairman’s assistance with the construction of an administrative block at Bells University, founded by Obasanjo.

“Mike agreed, and Cachez Turnkey Projects Ltd handled the project for him,” the statement quoted Oba Adetona as writing.

Ibe said Adenuga later left Nigeria amid what he described as continued harassment by the EFCC but returned after Obasanjo left office.

He further cited Oba Adetona’s account that the construction project at Bells University slowed during Adenuga’s absence and that the university subsequently sought a meeting with the businessman over the continuation of the project.

The Atiku camp said the account raised questions about the relationship between the former president’s public treatment of Adenuga and his alleged private dealings with the businessman.

The latest exchange is part of a long-running political dispute between Obasanjo and Atiku, whose relationship deteriorated significantly during their second term in office.

The two men had been political allies before the 1999 presidential election, when Obasanjo emerged as the PDP presidential candidate and selected Atiku as his running mate.

Their administration won re-election in 2003, but disagreements subsequently emerged over political succession, alleged corruption and Obasanjo’s controversial third-term bid.

Atiku left the PDP and contested the 2007 presidential election on the Action Congress after his relationship with Obasanjo broke down.

The former vice president has remained a major figure in Nigeria’s opposition politics and is currently the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 election.

Against that background, Ibe said Obasanjo’s latest allegation should be viewed within the context of a political relationship that has remained deeply contested for more than 20 years.

He accused the former president of repeatedly attempting to damage Atiku’s reputation and said the latest claims would not withstand scrutiny.

Obasanjo has yet to publicly respond to the latest allegations contained in Atiku’s statement.

When contacted for reaction, the Special Assistant to former President on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, said “No comment.”

Source: punchng.com

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A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State led by the former governor of the state, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, on Sunday declared support for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Saturday’s governorship poll, Bola Oyebamiji.

Oyinlola, speaking at the event held in Osogbo, where Oyebamiji’s ambition to be governor received the faction’s endorsement, stated that his group decided to part ways with the incumbent administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke due to a lack of inclusion in his handling of government affairs.

Oyinlola, joined by a former Secretary to State Government, Mr Fatai Akinbade, former PDP National Vice Chairman, Southwest, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, however, declared that they were not dumping the PDP.

He added that the group adopted Oyebamiji’s candidature, having considered the decision necessary and out of conviction and sincere desire for the progress of the state.

Speaking on behalf of the leaders and members of the PDP in the state, Oyinlola described the endorsement of Oyebamiji as a child of necessity, conviction and sincere desire to advance the cause of the state in the interest of all and sundry.

He maintained that the leadership and members of the party remained resolute to vote massively for the emergence of Oyebamiji as part of efforts to rescue the state from the scourge of political nepotism.

“One of the major issues that have created this unfortunate situation, in our considered view, is the lack of inclusiveness in the governance of our state.

“We believed in that project. We mobilised our people for it. We invested time, energy and political capital in it because we believed that it represented the aspirations of our people.

“But unfortunately, along the line, things began to fall apart, and one of the major issues that have created this unfortunate situation, in our considered view, is the lack of inclusiveness in the governance of our dear state.

“We believe strongly that no party or government can succeed sustainably when it does not carry its people and leaders along.

“The PDP has always been a party built around consultation, participation and collective responsibility.

“These are values that we must continue to uphold,” he said.

Oyinlola, however, insisted that they remained PDP members and would not defect to the APC.

“Let me repeat that our decision today should not be interpreted as an abandonment of the PDP.

“We remain PDP members. We are not here to announce our defection from the PDP. We are not here to renounce our membership of the PDP. Rather, we are exercising our conscience as stakeholders who have served this state and who believe that, at this particular moment, Osun State requires a different direction.

“It is on this basis that we have resolved to officially declare our support for Mr Bola Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” Oyinlola said.

On behalf of the group, Oyinlola urged Oyebamiji to focus on good governance, economic development, infrastructure, education, healthcare, agriculture, youth empowerment and the creation of opportunities for our people.

“You must put the people first and run an inclusive government. You must listen to the people. You must ensure that every part of Osun feels represented in your government,” Oyinlola said.

In their separate remarks, Akinbade and Oladipo called on all members of the PDP in the state to cast their votes overwhelmingly for Oyebamiji.

The duo attributed their decision to pitch their tent with the APC as the best at the moment, not for selfish interest but for the good of the state and her citizens.

The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, expressed delight in the noble decision taken by the leadership and members of the PDP in the state.

He described ex-Governor Oyinlola as a grassroots politician and national figure whose political antecedents and track records could not be underestimated.

Oyetola called on the people of the state to remain resolute and peaceful, saying “the victory is ours by the grace of God”

Responding, Oyebamiji said the support his ambition had received from different segments of the state would ensure victory for the APC in the governorship election.

“This assignment has been made easy for me. We have been to all the local government areas in Osun State about three times, and I was warmly received on each occasion.

“Our fathers have backed my ambition. Artisans, business operators, teachers, women, men, children and the elderly have all declared their support for my ambition to become governor. Whoever is raising allegations of rigging is expressing fear of defeat that is staring them in the face,” he said.

On the demands made by the Oyinlola group, Oyebamiji expressed his readiness to run an inclusive government if elected governor.

“I thank you for the confidence and trust reposed in me. I will stand by your mandate. I will not disappoint you. I will make you proud, and by the grace of God, we shall collectively advance the cause of our state when I become Osun State governor,” he said.

Efforts to reach the Osun State PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, for his reaction to the development were unsuccessful. Calls to his mobile line did not go through, while he had yet to respond to a message sent to him via WhatsApp as of the time of filing this report.