The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has warned that an alleged plan being worked out by Governor Seyi Makinde to hound and detain some political gladiators, believed to be against his second term bid, ahead of Saturday election would have dire consequences if not aborted.
The party said there had been fresh reports of renewed hostilities between Governor Makinde and some gladiators within and outside his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections in which the presidential candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, won with 449,884 votes, while his party also cleared all the three senatorial seats and eight out of the 14 House of Representatives seats with election into two constituencies declared inconclusive.
This development was said to have been blamed on the failure of Governor Makinde to give open support to the presidential candidate of his party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
According to a statement issued at the weekend and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC urged the state police command to avoid being reduced to a tool of intimidation, harassment and witch-hunt of opposition figures by the governor and the ruling PDP.
“We are in possession of some unimpeachable facts regarding the plans of Governor Makinde and his hatchet men to hound most political personalities in the state who are either chieftains of the opposition APC or those of the PDP who have been wronged by the governor. The goal is to get the police keep them out of circulation on Saturday, using false accusations and fake security reports.
“Some Park Management System (PMS) thugs have already been mobilised to act as baits to track down some of the identified influential political figures, as plans have been concluded on how the thugs would be arrested with illegal arms and amunition in their possession.
“Upon their scripted arrest, the thugs would then finger some notable politicians as their sponsors and it is on the premise that the implicated persons would be arrested and whisked away to unknown destinations until after the election.
“Another plan being hatched by the PDP is to unleash terror on some communities where identified gladiators would vote. The thugs would make voting exercise practically impossible with sponsored violence and as a result, a lot of people would be disenfranchised and this would reduce the chances of the candidates of the APC who are believed to be the major threat to Governor Makinde and his party.
“Among the communities marked out for attacks on Saturday are Iwo Road, Bashorun, Monatan, Kudeti, Idi-Arere, Isale-Ijebu, Mapo, Gbenla, Aliwo, Alakia-Isebo, Kumapayi, Olodo, Orita Challenge, Soka Express, Eleta, Oranyan, Oja’gbo, Agugu, Onipasan, Oke-Adu, Apete and Lalupon, all in Ibadan, while Ogbomoso, Oyo, Igbo-Ora, Eruwa, Iseyin, Saki and Igboho are not to be exempted from the violent attacks being planned.
“We have taken necessary action by informing the Inspector General of Police, Director-General of the DSS and others about the development and we are very sure that the concerned authorities would act swiftly to abort the plans of these disgruntled elements who are bent on truncating the peaceful conduct of the election as desired by all patriots.
“Lastly, we appeal to the Commissioner of Police and the heads all other security agencies in the state to be on the alert and give no room for miscreants and their sponsors to operate before, during and after the election this Saturday,” APC said.
