The Oyo State Governor, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, has accused the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu’s Unity Forum within the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to cause mayhem in Saturday’s state party congress.
He said the Unity Forum’s number one target was the setting ablaze of the party’s state secretariat.
Ajimobi has been at loggerheads with the minister over who will succeed him as governor in 2019.
The governor through one of his aides had traded words with the minister earlier in the week over who would go to jail whether or not Shittu emerges Ajimobi’s replacement in the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.
But speaking through his Executive Assistant, Political, Dr. Morounkola Thomas, Ajimobi said those involved in the latest plot to burn down the party secretariat include the minister, members of the House of Representatives, as well as former and serving political office holders in the state.
He said, “Oyo State is peaceful and will remain peaceful with the support of every law-abiding citizen. The governor has been a peace-loving leader and chief promoter of peace in the last seven years of his administration.
“He will, therefore, not fold his arms and allow any group or individual, irrespective of status, to take the state back to the dark era of political brigandage and violence.
“The protesting members of the House of Representatives and their leaders are all beneficiaries of Governor Ajimobi’s generosity and should be grateful to him, instead of biting the fingers that fed them.
“We are aware that they are looking for relevance and the only way they can get this is by linking Governor Ajimobi to the imaginary threat to their lives and well-being. Would anyone planning to injure you inform you before the act? They should have come up with a more believable tale.
“These are the governor’s political sons and I don’t know what will profit a father to kill his own son.
“The ward congresses have come and gone. The congress committee and the so-called Unity Forum adjudged the congress to be free and fair. An appeal committee has been put in place and I will only advise those aggrieved with the outcome of the congress to explore the opportunity.”
But Vanguard quoted Shittu as saying that he would never be involved in hooliganism, adding that there was no truth whatsoever in what the state government had said.
He added that the state government only deployed the story as a tactic to prevent people opposed to it from being present at the state party congress, adding that he would be there so as to realise his dream of succeeding the governor.
Shittu said, “That plan cannot work as I will be there for the congress because I am going to succeed Ajimobi as the governor of the state.
“I have no money to sponsor violence. I am not a criminal, I am civil. This cheap blackmail will not stop me from succeeding Ajimobi as the Oyo State governor. The governor is scared of me succeeding him because he is going to jail if I should become the governor.”
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