Osun Founding Fathers, Others Urged to Put End to Adeleke’s ‘Lawlessness’

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has appealled to the state founding fathers, elders and opinion molders to call the state Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, to order before “he turns the state to a battleground through his immature decisions and uncivilised Executive Orders.”

A statement signed and made available to THISDAY yesterday by the party’s Director of Operation, Oluomo Sunday Akere, said from the look of things, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration has nothing to offer “other than pain, harassment, intimidation, foisting of draconian rules, playing to the gallery and instilling fear on the people of the state.”

The APC operation director noted that for the avoidance of doubt, the PDP-led administration should accept the reality that the immediate-past Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, has the mandate of the Osun people till midnight of November 26, 2022, and any action taken in his capacity as governor is covered by the laws of the land.

He said for a governor to dabble into traditional matters in this way amounted to nothing but an abuse of power and brazen politicisation of traditional institutions.

Akere stressed that if there are complaints against the process of selecting any Oba, what the new administration should do is to encourage the complaints to seek redress in the court of law.

According to him, “Instructing security operatives to lock up palaces amount to an invitation to chaos and breakdown of law and order. No governor has such a power, and we will not hesitate to call the attention of the elders in the state to this as a matter of urgency so as to call this government to order.”

He posited that: “We have had governments here before and none has ever taken this sort of dictatorial approach to issues of the state and traditional matters.

“An Oba was installed in Igbajo without noise or rancor with all eminent personalities turning up to attend the event, including kingmakers and members of the royal lineage doing all the necessary rites associated with the position without anyone coming out to complain or show disaffection.

“The mere fact that the beneficiary of the process happens to be a politician doesn’t preclude him from ascending the throne of his forefathers.”

Akere added: “Other Executive Orders rolled out indicate that the administration totally lacks the capacity to run the affairs of this state. Osun is an elitist state peopled by highly educated citizens that should be so respected, and its affairs handled with total adherence to the laws of the land.

“The state House of Assembly as a separate arm of the government should call the infant administration to order so as not to set the state on fire. The courts of law as another separate and independent arm should be allowed to come in when or where we have contentious issues.

“Former Governor Oyetola have the right to make appointment, direct and administered the affairs of the state till November 26, 2022, and no Jupiter can overturn decisions taken by him except a competent court of law.”