The Osun State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), on Saturday accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore, of encouraging a culture of terror by going about with a masked guard.
The APC said the objective was to intimidate the electorate.
In a statement signed by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, the state APC said that Omisore and the masked armed man have been spotted at campaign rallies.
The party said: “While President Jonathan fights armed and masked terrorists in the North with Nigerian soldiers, the reverse is being done in Osun by Jonathan’s man, hiding behind security cover to intimidate the electorate with masked and armed suspect terrorist guards”.
It called for “a full scale investigation by the security agencies, if it was not privy to the exercise,” saying “this potentially dangerous dimension of electioneering violence is a high risk factor that can derail democracy and threaten Nigeria’s corporate existence”.
The APC also alleged that the PDP has “brought in bales of fake police uniforms with substantial arms into the state with the intention to replicate the scenario of Ekiti and enact the bombing experience in Ile Ife, in several other cities of the state”.
It decried the impunity with which the PDP and Omisore are operating and said that “as the August 9 election approaches, PDP’s desperation to win by force of arms rather than the votes of the people is manifesting ever so clearly. Political terrorism has arrived in Nigeria’s democratic space by the evil construct of the PDP”.
It said the only theme of the PDP flag bearer at his rallies is “arrangement has already been made to remove Aregbesola from office no matter whatever he is doing”, without articulating his own plan of governance for Osun.
In a separate statement yesterday, Oyatomi again warned the PDP, Omisore and others against “breaching the peace of the state; to stop causing chaos in the guise of political campaigns”.
It said the warning was informed by the rising wave of planned violent political attacks on supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the state.
The APC therefore cautioned “agents and promoters of conflicts and chaos to refrain from such acts or face the wrath of the law”.
It specifically drew attention to the political violence said to have been averted by the State Police Command in Obokun Local Government Area of the state on Friday in a fashion that followed similar attacks on the supporters of the APC at Ila-Oragun, Iwo, Ikirun, and the destruction of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s campaign billboards along Osogbo-Ilesha Road and Ibokun and Ile-Ife.
It said: “Since PDP’s exit from power, however, peace returned to Osun. Our people have from 2010 embraced the peace and harmony that Aregbesola’s government heralded. It has been shown to the whole world that this state values, enjoys and promotes harmonious living among its various peoples.
“This is one of the cardinal programmes of the APC government. Ours is not a government that fans the embers of disquiet, discord and chaos”.
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