Osun APC, PDP Trade Words Over Bid To Woo Transport Unions

The All Progressives Congress in Osun State has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of engaging in desperate measures to secure a second term in office.

According to the APC, Adeleke was forcing commercial motorcycle and tricycle riders in the state to swear an oath of continuous support for the Peoples Democratic Party.

APC made the claim in a statement signed by its Chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, on Tuesday, in Osogbo. 

Lawal said the APC reliably gathered that Adeleke was forcing commercial motorcyclists to swear by Ogun, the god of iron, to continue to support the ruling party.

He said: “It was learnt that Adeleke has now resorted to forcing commercial motorcycle and tricycle riders in the state to swear to the oath of continuous support for the PDP in all the future elections in the state, with the god of iron called ‘Ogun’ in Yoruba parlance.

“It was also gathered that words have been passed round from the state capital level of the transportation unions that the secret oath-taking of the compulsory allegiance should be held in all the units of the unions across the nooks and crannies of the state.

“Governor Adeleke and his co-travellers have also been going round the state to woo back the real owners of the PDP in the state that they chased away with cudgels, cutlasses, abuses and lack of political patronage immediately Adeleke was announced the winner of the governorship election by the Supreme Court.”

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He cautioned Adeleke and his supporters against forcing a choice on the people, contrary to the provision of the constitution.

Reacting, the PDP described APC’s allegations as a false campaign against the ruling party and the Governor.

In a statement signed by the PDP Chairman, Sunday Bisi, the party said Adeleke did not need to force anyone to take an oath because his ‘incredible performance’, both in terms of welfare and infrastructural development had earned him the support of not just those in the transportation sector, but also across other sectors.

The PDP said APC resorted to the false claim because its advances to the commercial motorcyclists in the state were not fruitful. 

The statement partly reads: “Contrary to the false impression that Sooko Tajudeen Lawal tried to create, we authoritatively gathered that the Osun APC advances to transporters in Osun did not yield and the only thing Kola Olabisi could come up with was to lie to the public.

“To any reasonable mind in Osun, it would not be so hard to understand why transporters in Osun turned down the APC advances. Its time at the helm in Osun State brought nothing but pains and anguish, and it is, therefore, nothing but nonsense on the part of Sooko Tajudeen Lawal to try and cover for his party’s failure and the consequent rejection by cooking up cheap lies.

“Only parasitic elements like the APC will ever contemplate that Governor Adeleke will need to force support, especially when the only alternative are those who almost drove the state into a ditch through reckless financial mismanagement and poor welfare attitude.”