Spokesperson for Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Olawale Rasheed, on Sunday described the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a threat to democracy and the sanctity of the judiciary, going by its reckless actions and statements on the Osun local government matters currently before the Supreme Court.

Reacting to the allegation by the APC that Adeleke had bribed the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) to stay away from the local government secretariats, Rasheed, in a statement, argued that the allegation was not only “unfounded and baseless, but a further manifestation of the APC’s disregard for the rule of law and its shameless embrace of impunity in a democracy.”

According to the statement, the level of impunity on display by the state APC constitutes a serious threat to our democratic life.

It read: “The party started by falsifying a Court of Appeal judgement to claim a fake reinstatement of its court-sacked chairmen. It proceeded to ignore a Court of Appeal judgement arising from its own belated appeal, which affirmed the subsistence of the sacking of its chairmen and confirmed the legality of PDP chairmen and councillors across the local governments.

“Behaving like political robbers in a lawless country, the state APC became even more emboldened to invade and occupy the council secretariats without any legal mandate. With a system that appears to pander to illegality, the opposition brazenly sought to claim public funds through other layers of illegality until they were legally stopped in their tracks.

“The judiciary had waded in to set the records straight, providing needed interpretation and interventions. Unfortunately, the state APC appears so bitter and so bold about its disrespect for the judiciary that it can still be debating a matter now before the highest court in the land. This was after it had fruitlessly launched sabotage of the judicial process.

“The general public is aware of the illegality and criminal dimension of the APC actions on the Osun local government issues. At this point, we expect the opposition to submit and await the ruling of the apex court, instead of throwing tantrums about the failure of its illegal takeover of the Osun local government system.”

“We therefore urge the public to disregard the new bag of lies from the APC. The workers’ union is an independent body with its own modus operandi. The fight to stop the attempted looting of the local government treasury is a collective effort of all stakeholders who need no inducement to fight for and protect their interests.”