The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state has denied involvement or culpability in the reported violent attacks against the gubernatorial candidate of the Accord, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, urging the state Police Command to immediately investigate the veracity of the claims with a view to establishing whether or not the attack actually happened and possibly unmasking the culprits.
Mr. Adelabu was reported to have taken to his personal social media platform at the wee hours of Thursday to announce that his convoy was attacked at Tede town in Oke-Ogun part of the state where he had gone to campaign for votes ahead of the forthcoming elections while he also pointed accusing fingers at his former party, APC, which offered him the platform to contest the same gubernatorial election in 2019.
But in a swift reaction which was contained in a statement issued on Friday and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC argued that “the accusation from Adelabu was not only ridiculous but also reckless and regrettable as it has exposed the Accord candidate as the most celebrated clown in the current political dispensation as far as Oyo state is concerned.
“We have a good reason to doubt the claims of attacks by the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in view of his ceaseless exhibition of desperation to become an elected governor after he had wasted the princely opportunity which came his way in 2019.
Also, the place where he claimed to have been attacked is not known for harbouring agents of political violence while the ruling party notorious for sponsoring such attacks might not even need to strike in Oke-Ogun for obvious reasons.
“Adelabu claimed three of his attackers who were arrested confessed to be working for us (Oyo APC) but we find this statement utterly reckless, irresponsible and defamatory. It is on this note that we are calling on the authorities of the Nigeria Police, Department of State Security and other relevant security agencies to immediately launch a thorough investigation into the matter and make public their findings for the whole world to know the truth.
“For the avoidance of doubt, neither Oyo APC nor any of our candidates or leaders (including our gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin) has harbours miscreants who could be sponsored to attack anybody and we would not watch while Mr. Adelabu or anyone for that matter who feels the best way for him to secure sympathy from the electorate is to ceaselessly drag our reputation in the mud.
“It is on record that while the internal process aimed at producing the candidates of party for 2023 poll lasted and Adelabu was with us, there was never a time anyone raised a finger against him regardless of his penchant for direct provocation and cheap blackmail of perceived opponents. This tells a lot about our enviable credentials as democrats and peace-loving political players while our major concern now is how to mobilize electorate in the state to vote all the candidates of the APC (including Sen. Bola Tinubu as the next President of Nigeria, Sen. Teslim Folarin as the next governor of Oyo state and so on.
“We had warned the dog not to break away from the camp of the tiger in the popular campaign to ward off the menace of a rampaging wolf but Adelabu would not listen. Now that the reality of another electoral failure is dawned on him and his naive supporters, we can only admonish them to swallow their pride and come back home before it is too late. The 2023 race for Agodi Government House will not be won on the basis of one’s grandfather’s name or his boast of controlling hotel facilities where most young internet fraudsters waste the proceeds of their criminal activities.” Sadare stated.
