PDP group condemns attack on Makinde over foreign trip

BY Victoria Ogunrinde

The Oyo PDP-Visionaries, a group within the Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has described the attack on Governor Seyi Makinde by some elements in the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the insecurity situation in the state as unpatriotic and uncharitable.

It added that the APC elements have become unnecessarily obsessed with criticising Makinde over insecurity, because they are jittery that the government has been winning all the wars they are staging to rubbish its efforts.

The group decried the attempt by the APC elements to link the governor’s reported trip abroad to the insecurity challenges in the country, which is also affecting Oyo State, as an attention-seeking measure only meant to further resonate the noise they are known for.

The Visionaries noted that the noise being orchestrated by the APC group is needless since the situation in Oyo is being carefully handled by the appropriate authorities and that the governor does not have to be physically present for actions to be taken.

According to the group, the war against insecurity in Oyo, which is a reflection of the general situation in Nigeria, is being won due to the strategies and concerted efforts of the Makinde government.

A statement by the group’s lead visioner, Qudus Olayide, which was made available on Monday in Ibadan, indicated that the governor has put in place a solid roadmap for the security of the state and that travelling abroad to visit his family, if indeed it is true, after a tough year 2020, should not have been politicised.

According to the group, the statement by the APC elements sold them out as unpatriotic noisemakers who want to always resonate bad stories about Oyo to score cheap political points.

It wondered why the APC always rushes to raise baseless sentiments about issues in the state, querying why it is also always in a hurry to insinuate that the Deputy Governor, Engr. Rauf Olaniyan, fails to play his constitutional role whenever the governor is out of town.

The statement read: “We have watched, for some time, the shenanigans of a group within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, which identified itself as The Pacesetter Initiative (TPI). This group of attention-seekers is always in a hurry to seek undue gains from politicising governance issues in the state.

“While we would like to sympathise with them, knowing them as leeches and parasitic losers looking for attention so as to retain the undue positions they have attained through sycophancy to the immediate past governor of the state, we would like to state that the attack on Governor Makinde is unpatriotic and uncharitable.

“These elements said in their statement that they did not have an official confirmation on the governor’s overseas trip but still went ahead to insinuate that the governor sneaked out without following constitutional procedure and that he did so at a time the state is facing insecurity.

“Though we should not have dignified the inane statement with a response, it is important to ask the sponsors of the statement whether or not the governor is allowed by law to travel. If he is, does his travel either within or outside the country affect the efforts of security agencies, who are saddled with maintaining peace and order?

“For the umpteenth time, we would like to point out that Governor Makinde has put in place a solid architecture for the security of the state. This architecture brought about improved security in the state until a general breakdown in the security of the entire country, which came as a result of the failure and ineptitude of the APC-led Federal Government.

“Today, the rapidity of responses from the state-backed Operation Burst and the Oyo State Security Network Agency also known as Operation Amotekun, has helped in stemming the tide of insecurity.

“But instead of allowing the Amotekun to do its job, the APC elements are terrified that the hoodlums and bandits they are banking on to rubbish the Makinde government will soon be unearthed and so they are already jittery and only resorting to infantile attacks to cover their shame.”