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By Adeoye Olude
The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, of alleged threats to rig the 2026 governorship elections in Osun State.
Osun PDP, in a statement signed by its chairman, Sunday Bisi, said the Minister made the threat during the state caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress last Friday.
Bisi described the alleged utterances as “the most brazen declaration of intent to destroy democracy and a condemnable signal to abuse state power to deny Osun people the legitimate rights to choose their leader in a democracy.”
According to Bisi, the minister had during the meeting allegedly said, “I blocked Gov Adeleke from joining the APC. Otherwise, all your ambitions would have been in jeopardy. I gave a guarantee to Mr. President that APC can win in Osun without Governor Adeleke.
“We lost the 2022 election because Buhari refused to instruct INEC and the Police to work for APC. I have secured the cooperation of the Police and INEC to ensure that APC wins the Osun 2026 Gubernatorial Election.
“I have employed federal might to prevail upon the Attorney General of the Federation not to recognize the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which clearly recognized the election of the PDP chairmen and councilors. The Attorney General is working on a loophole that will allow the withheld local government funds to be released to the court-sacked APC chairmen and Councilors.
“Otherwise, the Osun State withheld funds will not be released until after the Gubernatorial Election in 2026, in order to turn the grassroots against Governor Adeleke.”
The statement noted that PDP “As a party have no issue with the Minister’s position on the recent defection politics; we, however, challenge the Minister to deny and clarify other statements he allegedly made at the said state caucus meeting as they pose serious danger to democratic practice, undermine the credibility of critical state institutions and constitute gross abuse of powers and violations of the constitution.”
The statement urged President Bola Tinubu to sanction Oyetola for dragging the names of the Federal Government into disrepute and order the Attorney General of the Federation to obey the Court of Appeal judgement, which recognizes the elected PDP chairmen and councilors, and release Osun state local government allocations without further delay.
“While we are of the considered view that President Bola Tinubu is not aware of the open threats to sack democracy in Osun by his cousin and the Minister of Blue Economy, we call on Mr President to sanction the Minister for dragging the name of the Federal Government into disrepute.
“We also call on Mr President to counter-order the Attorney General of the Federation to obey the Court of Appeal judgement, which recognizes the duly elected PDP chairmen and councilors, and release Osun state local government allocations without further delay.
“We are also alerting men of goodwill and the diplomatic community of the open declaration of war on the people of Osun state by a Minister who is still bitter about his rejection at the poll by the good people of Osun state in 2022.
“We inform the global community of an open genocidal threat to democratic practice as Osun people will defend their votes irrespective of the threats from anti-democratic elements,” the statement stated.
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