Get Wise, Stop Dreaming, Osun APC Tells PDP

All Progressives Congress has advised the People’s Democratic Party in the state of Osun to get wise and stop dreaming about impossibilities, in the structure of governance within the state.

‘The PDP is asking for what it cannot get and it is a pity it is doing so over and over again’.

This was the reaction of the  APC to the call by  the PDP leadership to Governor Rauf Aregbesola to immediately reconstitute the State Electoral Commission to conduct local government elections now.

Besides, the PDP canvassed absolute autonomy for the local government,  so that the state will have no say in how a local government uses its funds.

However, the APC  described these demands as useless.

In a statement from the party’s Directorate of Publicity, Research and Strategy, signed by its Director, Kunle Oyatomi, the APC argued that the Governor had made it clear long ago that there would be local government election in the state before the end of the year.

‘Election is a process which should be well planned and efficiently executed’, the APC said, adding that ‘the reconstitution of the local government management is the first step in that process’.

The second step is to constitute a new electoral body that will handle the election,  so, the PDP’s dream of having election tomorrow or the next is ‘childish’, the APC emphasised.

On the issue of ‘absolute autonomy’ for the  local government, the APC described the idea as fundamentally flawed and basically ignorant of how true federation works.

‘Nowhere in the world with a federal constitution, is a local council autonomous, not to talk of being absolutely autonomous.

‘In Nigeria  today,  the local council with the fanciful name of local government, does not enjoy the status of a federating unit. Therefore, it cannot be autonomous’.

‘We sympathise with the ignorance of the PDP on thIs issue which has been compounded by its desperation for power in the state’.

On the reconstitution of the management of the local government councils,  the APC submitted  that the process was thoroughly democratic, because, it was subjected to popular participation within the party.

‘This became necessary after the extensive rearrangement that expanded the councils to accommodate LCDAs

‘These are the people who will mobilise and sensitise the voters for the coming local government elections.

‘Everything is being properly put together before an election. The PDP cannot therefore    stampede the government into doing otherwise.

‘So, all the noisemaking by the PDP is an exercise in futility. That party should look for something more constructive to do’, the APC concluded.