Regional News of Friday, 14 June 2024

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Don't talk about free, fair elections – APC tackles Governor Adeleke

Governor Ademola Adeleke Governor Ademola Adeleke

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has called out Governor Ademola Adeleke for his Democracy Day speech.

According to the party, Adeleke shouldn't advocate for free and fair elections as they accused him of assuming power through a rigged election.

Recall that the Governor in his Democracy Day speech disclosed the best way to honor the demise of the late Bashorun MKO Abiola and other democratic heroes was for the country to execute free and fair elections. Governor Adeleke note further that rigging in an election is an act of war

He also appealed to the people to submit themselves to the upholding of the tenets of democracy by respecting the will of the people.

The Osun APC chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, on Thursday that the teachings of Governor Adeleke on genuine democratic institution is at variance with how he and other PDP candidates secured the highest political executive seat of the state during the last elections.

Lawal also alleged that Governor Adeleke won the election through the use of maximum violence by militarising the nooks and crannies of the state.

In Lawal’s words: “It is paradoxical that Governor Adeleke, who needlessly invoked Executive Orders to sack some of the legally enthroned Obas as a way of political victimization and vindictiveness, could be talking of the need for the observance of the rule of law.

“It is equally funny that Governor Adeleke, who was canvassing the need to stop being autocratic in democratic government, would find it worthwhile to sack the Chief Judge of the state, Justice (Mrs) Adepele Ojo, whose saving grace was the court of law.

“If Governor Adeleke is not autocratic in democratic garb, would his conscience have allowed him to sack the inherited 20,000 O’YES cadets, thousands of teachers and health workers alike at the inception of his administration?

“If Governor Adeleke is a doer and believer in what is just and fair, would he have prioritized the construction of five flyovers in a poor state like Osun, where hunger is walking on four legs in all the streets in the state?

“No responsible state executive would pay lip service to agriculture when the governed are wallowing in hunger and the basic necessities of life.”

Lawal also accused Adeleke of willingly denying the public servants who worked for his predecessor their November 2022 salaries as a means of punishment for belonging to the opposition party.