Don’t abuse state power to muzzle opposition, Osun APC tells Adeleke

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) cautioned Governor Ademola Adeleke on Thursday to desist from misusing the power of the executive to muzzle opposition.

The APC said this in reaction to the recent Court of Appeal judgement that purportedly returned the local government council chairmen sacked by his administration over two years ago.

Reacting to Adeleke’s accusation that the APC allegedly plans to precipitate violence in the state ahead of the February 22 local council poll, the opposition advised the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP)-led administration to tow the path of justice by appealing the judgement at the Supreme Court instead of raising a false alarm over violence.

APC spokesman Kola Olabisi, in a statement, argued that “the Court of Appeal judgement that returned the APC local government council chairmen to their offices is a testimony to the fact that Adeleke’s administration needs a crash programme in democratic governance.”

“In the first instance, it defies logic how any local government council election could be contemplated by any government that is worth its salt when it is apparent that, in the face of the law, there is no vacancy for any elective offices in Osun State as of last Monday henceforth.

“We want to impress it on Governor Adeleke and those thinking for him that it is anathema for any executive to assume the role of the controller of the judiciary, which is constitutionally vested with autonomy by any other arms of government.
“The judiciary had played its constitutional role in the local government council election debacle in the state, which is binding on everybody irrespective of his status in the state and beyond.

“Governor Adeleke should toe the dignifying way of approaching the Supreme Court to seek further redress on the issue of the local government council elections, which had been decided in favour of the chairmen and councillors of the APC extraction.

“The statement of the state governor and his men alleging the opposition of planning to cause crisis in the state is only happening in his imagination, as the owner of a property could not be prevented from accessing his legal entitlement having a complementary backing of the law.

“There is no way that our elected local government council chairmen who are warming up for resumption into their respective local government council areas would crave for crisis in any part of their constituencies.

“It is not an overstatement that our members and supporters have been victims of the needless attacks by the ubiquitous PDP thugs in some parts of the state since our party won the control of the government at the local government level in the state.”