Opposition raises alarm over destruction of billboards

Peace is gradually returning to Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), as a former deputy state chairman of the party, Chief Laide Abass, finally took an oath of office and promised to serve as deputy chairman to the incumbent state chairman, Isaac Omodewu.

Abass was among the disgruntled Unity Forum members that kicked against the state congress that produced Omodewu as chairman at the Liberty Stadium on October 30, 2021.

He was initially tipped to be the new Oyo State chairman after the expiration of the tenure of Chief Akin Oke, but due to irreconcilable crisis, the chairmanship slot was moved away from Ibarapa area where he comes from.

The decision did not go down well with him and his loyalists, especially those from Ibarapa area and they teamed up with the forum to oppose Omodewu.

However, Abass, while addressing party loyalists yesterday in the presence of the state chairman, said he changed his mind to serve along with Omodewu as deputy chairman, following series of consultations with party leadership both within and outside the state.

Abass, however, appealed to other aggrieved members of the party to sheathe their swords and team up with Omodewu in the interest of the state.

IN another development, an interest group within Oyo APC, Rescue Oyo Mission ‘23, yesterday, raised the alarm over wanton destruction of billboards and banners of aspirants from opposition parties by political thugs.

The group, in a statement issued in Ibadan yesterday by its Co-ordinator, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, urged the police and other security agencies to check the activities of political thugs hiding under the Park Management System (PMS) set up by the state government.

It said that police intervention is necessary not to throw the state into lawlessness. The group noted that in the last 48 hours, no fewer than five billboards and several posters of APC aspirants had been destroyed.

It, however, appealed to the aggrieved members of the APC and the affected aspirants to remain calm, expressing the hope that the situation would not be allowed to continue unabated.