The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Oyo state chapter has commended the state Command of the Nigeria Police Force under the leadership of CP Ngozi Onadeko over her officers display of gallantry and patriotism by repelling the daredevil armed robbers who attacked a bullion Van transporting cash two days ago in Ibadan.
The ruling party in Oyo state described the two police officers who lost their lives in line of duties as the heroes of the unfortunate incident while expressing its deepest condolences to the affected families including family of the onlooker who also got hit by a stray bullet and died praying God to grant the affected families the fortitude to bear the irredeemable loss.
The ruling party in the state explained that it was very shameful and appalling to discover afterwards that politicians in the state especially in the opposition parties were gloating over the incident that has been described as very unfortunate by many across the state while cautioning against the habit of politicking with everything including sanctity of human lives.
The Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Oyo state, Akeem Olatunji, who made this known in a press statement signed by the state party chairman, Honourable Dayo Ogungbenro on Saturday Feb. 12 said politicians, especially in the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, trying to cash-in on the sad incident to score cheap political point should bury their heads in shame saying no amount of desperation could return the APC to power come 2023 or in the near future.
According to the PDP statement, armed robbery attacks remain a global phenomenon affecting all states and countries of the world including the developed nations such as the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France and others wondering why APC members in Oyo state would quickly gloat over the misfortune as if it was part of the opposition party’s prayers over Oyo state.
“Armed robbery anywhere in the world is not banditry, it is not terrorism, it is not mass kidnapping for ransom, it is not even ethnic and religious cleansing as being witnessed in Nigeria in the last over six years without a single soul being arrested and made a scapegoat. Armed robbery attack I the same all over the world and it is not a product of security lapse, it is just one the sad global phenomenon.
“Our brothers in the opposition parties especially in Oyo APC should do us a favour of burying their heads in shame stop embarrassing our collective sensibility by gloating over what is not even peculiar to Oyo state. They should rather advise the federal government to replicate Makinde’s economic policies that have seen thousands of youths gainfully employed and taken out of the streets.
“The poorest economic management in this country is being witnessed under the present APC led federal government and continued to take job away even from the employed population thereby, increasing the crime rates and its tendencies across every nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
“If other south west states have done as much as half of what Seyi Makinde is doing in Oyo state, what we would be witnessing now in term of policy cohesion would be regional economic integration where Oyo state will not be facing a fall-out of any inefficiency from its neighboring states.” Oyo state PDP fumes.
The ruling party maintained that even though very sad and distasteful to recall, multiple incidents of widely reported notorious armed gang robbery attacks at different places in Ibadan whose huge impacts severely traumatized residents of the state during the last administration under the APC remain fresh in the memory of residents.
According to the PDP statement, some of such coordinated armed robbery attacks during the Oyo state APC led administration was on Friday 1st October, 2017 involving another widely reported midnight house to house robbery in Tella Estate, Akobo area, unresolved Soka ritualists den amongst others.
“We hear that as part of politicians in the opposition’s gloating, they have started peddling sheer falsehood about that there was no armed robbery attack during the last APC administration in the state but as shameless as they are, Oyo state is yet to get answers to where the APC government relocated all the mentally challenged persons it was going about picking up across Ibadan metropolis while it was in office.
“Speaking of heinous crime perhaps, it was why many residents in the state still hold the belief till date that the Soka saga and multiple human skeleton and skulls as well as few persons who were found still alive in the dungeon were a handiwork of the last APC government since it refused throughout its administration’s lifespan to tell Oyo state where it relocated those mentally challenged persons it relocated from the streets.” Oyo state PDP added.
The party however, urged all residents of the state to give the police and other security agents maximum support and cooperation in its renewed onslaught against crime and criminality in the state stressing that criminals don’t know whether their victims are from either PDP or APC while assuring that the ruling party will continue to give the state police command all the needed cooperation and support needed to particularly apprehend the bullion van criminals and bring them to book.