LG crisis: Sowunmi faults APC’s call for state of emergency in Osun

Segun Sowunmi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has kicked against the call for declaration of a state of emergency in Osun.

The south-west state has been embroiled in crisis after sacked All Progressives Congress (APC) LG chairpersons attempted to return to their offices on the basis that they had been reinstated by the court.

On Monday, violence broke out at some LG secretariats in Osun after a clash between supporters of the APC and those of the PDP.

Some persons were killed during the clash, including Remi Abbas, a former chairman of Irewole LGA.

The PDP claimed that the February 10 judgment of the court of appeal in Akure, Ondo state, did not reinstate the sacked chairpersons and councillors who were elected in 2022, while the APC insisted that they were reinstated.

Ajibola Basiru, national secretary of the APC, had asked the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the state.

“I will suggest that perhaps it will be necessary for the federal government to declare a state of emergency. It has gotten to that stage where hapless people coming from farms are attacked by uncontrollable PDP thugs,” Basiru had said.

Ademola Adeleke, governor of the state, had blamed Gboyega Oyetola, his predecessor, for the mayhem and chaos, while asking President Bola Tinubu to “call his nephew to order”.

The governor also urged the president to direct Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA), and Lateef Fagbemi, attorney general of the federation (AGF), to resolve the crisis.

‘ADELEKE HAS RECEIVED NO SUPPORT FROM ABUJA’

Speaking on Wednesday on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Sowunmi said “everything humanely possible ought to have been given to Adeleke to prevent this kind of bloodbath”.

The former Ogun PDP governorship candidate asked the APC to dismiss the idea that the opposition can be silenced or suppressed to create a one-party system.

“It was rumoured that some fellows are deceiving themselves to declare a state of emergency in Osun,” Sowunmi said.

“For what and why? Jonathan did not declare a state of emergency when the vice-president (Shettima) was governor in Borno, even with all the shenanigans of Chibok and all of that.

“The governor was screaming that things were not looking normal. Please call Oyetola to order, but the next thing we see is brigandage.

“When he raised the alarm, everything humanely possible ought to have been given to him as the chief security officer of that state to prevent this kind of bloodbath.

“The president should have told them in clear language that I haven’t sent anybody on my behalf playing God about tomorrow, that they don’t know if it will come or it will not come, and begin to play strong-arm politics.

“I don’t like people who say the country is going to be a one-party state because it can never be a one-party state.”

On Wednesday, ‘sacked’ APC chairpersons and councillors in Osun took control of at least 14 local government secretariats, amid the rising tension.

There are 30 LGAs in Osun.