The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state has lampooned its opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC) over a statement credited to the party over the crisis rocking parts of Ibadan by angry youths describing it as regrettable, shameful, and lacking in empathy.
This was as the ruling party accused the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state ahead of March 11 election, Senator Teslim Folarin of hoarding the 2 billion naira he received for organizing and mobilizing its members for Bola Tinubu’s presidential rally slated for tomorrow in Ibadan.
Angry youths numbering in their hundred had earlier on Wednesday barricaded some roads in Ibadan, the state capital in protest against scarcity of naira notes following the central bank cash swap policy of old naira notes to new ones in the denominations of 1,000, 500, and 200 notes.
The Publicity Secretary of PDP in Oyo state, Akeem Olatunji in a press statement on Wednesday afternoon accuse Folarin of greed and covetousness and alleging that Folarin had only disbursed about 2 million naira to each local government from Tinubu’s largesse.
Aware that his bubble was going to burst after the rally tomorrow, the ruling PDP alleged that Folarin had orchestrated and masterminded the aggressive protests in parts of Ibadan on Wednesday with the sole aim of sending similar fear signal that led to the cancellation of its presidential rally last week to APC PCC and in its regular style blame the state government and the ruling party for it as a decoy.
Oyo state PDP urged Folarin to come out clean to its members and the leadership of APC on the said N2b funds he received for tomorrow’s rally. The ruling party argued that Folarin’s ‘jagba’ attitude and his ‘me, myself, and I’, disposition to life was why he has failed to earn the trust of APC members in the state now working against him internally and also why APC presidential candidate has refused to endorse him for the coming election till date.
According to the PDP statement, Olatunji wondered why APC in Oyo state has never for once found it worthy of note to issue a statement of solidarity with the suffering masses in the state due to the unending hardship occasioned by scarcity of naira notes and petrol which directly affect every single individual and household, not only in Oyo state but Nigeria as a whole.
The ruling party explained that Makinde’s success and his street credibility as well as his adoption by major political stakeholders and traditional institutions across every geopolitical zones in the state have really shattered the hope of Folarin’s APC in the 2023 thereby, compelling them to lose their heads and constituting themselves to political nuisance within the political landscape in the state.
Making inferences to last week’s protest by angry youths across different parts of the city including the state government Secretariat leaving a police officer at the governor’s office injured and properties vandalized over the ongoing scarcity crisis, the ruling PDP queried why Oyo APC and Folarin is only concerned about the coming election against the wellbeing of the masses, and has deliberately refused to sympathize or empathize with the suffering masses till date.
Olatunji maintained that the graveyard silence of Oyo APC and Folarin over its party’s failure at the centre, which has degenerated to every corner of the country was born out of the fact that the party has exhausted its lie manufacturing materials and was ashamed to admit its monumental failure by keeping quiet.
The PDP Spokesman in the state reminded Oyo APC of how its government in the state between 2011 and 2019 sent many young and aged persons to their untimely graves and destroyed sources of household income through the same level of hardship and suffering leading to its shameful and embarrassing defeat at the polls.
Olatunji maintained that the people have already known APC in the state for what it represents which is imposing hardship, pain, and anguish on the masses noting that these ills have now formed the hallmark of APC stressing that the election defeat that awaits APC on February 25th and March 11th will not only supercede 2019 record but will be the final nail that will bury APC in Oyo state forever.
“Ordinarily, we should ignore this show of political nuisance displayed by the state chapter of APC and Senator Teslim Folarin but we feel obligated to expose this wicked lies and deliberate attempt to frustrate Tinubu’s presidential rally with greed and covetousness of one or two self serving individuals and blaming the ruling PDP and the state government as a decoy to distract suspicion from its tracks.
“Even though it was glaringly evident that Folarin and his APC co-travelers in Oyo state are well aware of the inevitable defeat that awaits them at the coming polls, we urge them to display any available atom of decorum left in them by not continuing to play the ‘jagba’ politics while trying to blame the ‘people friendly’ government under the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde.” Olatunji said.
