JUST IN: Don’t accede to ‘lazy’ APC petitions, Osun PDP tells IG

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State has told the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to ignore petitions calling for the arrest of PDP leaders in the state from the ‘lazy’ opposition All Progressives Congress.

The Osun PDP made this known in a statement made available to The PUNCH on Friday signed by its Caretaker Committee Chairman, Dr Akindele Adekunle.

The PDP also warned the APC to desist from playing politics by “circumventing the will of the people,” which it described as lazy politics.

According to the statement, the PDP has asked the APC “to learn playing politics by the rules and not always scheming to circumvent the will of the people, warning that such habitual laziness and opportunistic tendencies will burst out of the roof and throw the country into flames.”

Continuing the ruling party noted that the APC National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, had been “pressurising the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba through thoughtless petitions aimed at turning Osun into a police state, to hound, harass and arrest innocent leaders of the PDP in the state, with the warped thought of avoiding another electoral defeat.

“PDP reckoned that such lazy audacity is dangerous in a determined society where people are poised to invest their electoral franchise in the PDP as the only political party walking the talks of their wellbeing as against the APC’s mantra of force of poverty to suppress and repress the people.

“We warn that the APC national secretary, Iyiola Omisore and his co-travellers in this latest voyage should exercise restraints and stop underestimating the strength and determination of the good people of Osun State.”

The PDP also said that trying to use the police to harass and intimidate members of the public would only backfire on the opposition party.

They further urged the IG to resist the pressure and disregard all allegations made against the party by the APC, saying they are all lies.

“The PDP understands that the IGP, Baba Usman is under intense pressure to carry out hatchet jobs of indiscriminate harassment and arrest of PDP leaders ahead of rescheduled state assembly election in Osun State. We however advise the police boss to be diligent and see through the evil plans at this hour of our national life and refuse to be pressured into dangerous politics of insatiable hounding of perceived political opponents.

“We are not unaware of presence and housing of the police team sent to Osun State from Abuja to effect indiscriminate arrests of PDP stalwarts in Osun are presently being teleguided in the Ile-Ife house of Iyiola Omisore. Let it be known that Osun people will resist all attempt to intimidate or cow them into submission.

“Democracy is about good governance and Apc was rejected by the people of the state because they fell short of it. The police must therefore not be a willing tool to reinforce failure in our nation and Osun State in particular.

“The IGP will do well to investigate properly, all lies and unfounded accusation cramped on his table by Omisore and other serial election riggers, who are merely looking for police accomplice or partnership to subvert the inevitable electoral verdict of Osun people,” the statement read.

The party also urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to “beam his searchlight on the nefarious plans of the APC to disrupt the peace of the state using the police ahead of the coming election,” adding that elections should not be war for those who are accepted by the people.

Stating that the people of Osun should not be taken for granted, the PDP urged the IGP to rather conduct proper investigation of APC “political warmongers, whose only route to self survival is violence and bloodshed.”

The party also called on the state Commissioner of Police to be professional in his conducts and operations.