The Caretaker Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the State of Osun, Hon Rasaq Salinsile, has stated that those who destroyed the billboard he sponsored to felicitate with the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on his 64th birthday, are members of the party.
In an exclusive interview with OSUN DEFENDER on Friday, Salinsile stated that some members of the party, who suddenly developed hatred for Aregbesola, were behind the vandalisation of the billboard erected at Old Garage area in Osogbo, the state capital.
It would be recalled that this medium had reported that the billboard, which was erected last Saturday, was destroyed in the early hours of Monday.
The billboard was re-fixed on Wednesday and was vandalised again on Thursday.
Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, Salinsile said that preliminary investigations revealed that six men armed with cutlasses came on motorcycles to destroy the billboard again on around 11pm on Thursday
He berated a situation where such individuals will destroy a billboard celebrating the political liberator of the State of Osun.
His words: ” What can we do? They went ahead and destroyed it again and before I re-fixed it, I contacted the security agencies and they promised to supervise it and make sure it was protected but it was destroyed again. The first one was fixed on Saturday evening and was destroyed in the early hours of Monday. I fixed it on Wednesday and now, they destroyed it again.
“According to reports, those who destroyed the billboard were six men who came on motorcycles with cutlasses to destroy the billboard. I feel very bad about it, not because of the financial aspect of it but for the message it is passing around on the security architecture of the state because it is speaking volumes.
“Secondly, I am sure no member of the opposition will do that. It is in-house. The vandals are within the party. I do not know who exactly they are but I am sure that by the special grace of God, the perpetrators will be exposed and they will meet their waterloo very soon.
“It cannot be outside of our party. You should understand that anything Aregbesola, some people do not even want to hear it. This is the man who risked his life, wealth and future to liberate this state from the hands of the opposition who ruled this state like their family. They were very aggressive to the opposition then and they had nothing to offer the state in terms of development but for a man to stick his neck into that kind of an assignment around that time. Those who were not with us that time would not understand the in-depth of what we went through but those who we struggled together should understand.
“For that kind of a person who led that kind of a war to be castigated now, to the extent of destroying ordinary billboard showing his picture is unheard of. I did the billboard through a registered agent. I have reported to the Police and all security agencies.”
