Nigeria Content Online

The
Oyo State chapter of the Action Congress (AC) has cautioned the state
governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, against the deployment of threat and
intimidation to cow traditional rulers in the state into submission to
his second term bid.

The party’s
director of publicity in the state, Wasiu Olatunbosun, sounded the note
of caution in Ibadan at the weekend and pledged the party’s readiness
to protect the traditional institutions in the state against any form
of harassment and witch-hunting by the political class.

The party also
berated the governor for making uncomplimentary statements on former
governor, Lam Adesina, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III,
both of whom recently alleged threats to their lives by the governor.

While addressing
the press in his office penultimate Thursday, the governor denied being
after the two prominent Oyo state indigenes and described their claim
as ‘stupid’.

He also spoke on
several other issues about the state’s politics, as well as the efforts
of his government to leave the legacies of good governance behind.

But the AC said the
governor was either being economical with the truth, or he was out on
mischief when he made the comments on the AC leader and the Oyo monarch.

“You don’t need to
be a student of history to remember what happened in December 2002,
when our leader, and former attorney general and minister for justice,
Bola Ige, was murdered few months to 2003 general elections.

“It would also
interest Governor Akala to know that the democracy he is now a
beneficiary of, was as a result of doggedness of some people like Lam
who fought the military to earn the title of ‘prisoner of war’, and he
has not reneged for once in fighting for the oppressed,” Mr.
Olatunbosun said.

Betrayal of trust

Commenting on the
governor’s position that Mr. Adesina became governor on a platter of
gold, while he had used his own popularity to occupy all elective posts
he has held in the state, the AC said Mr. Alao-Akala’s ascension to the
position of the state governor was made possible by his betrayal of his
former boss, Rasidi Ladoja, with the former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo, as the mastermind.

“Unlike a pariah
government, which is the hallmark of Akala’s administration, where few
charlatans hold sway, Lam ran a participatory government and has not
betrayed his leaders for once, as he still remained a principled and
exemplary statesman, and an epitome of selflessness,” the party said.

“In fact, one does not need a soothsayer to know that the state is
heading towards a failed state occasioned by high level tolerance for
corruption, insensitivity to the plight of people who are wallowing in
abject poverty, and intolerable level of unemployment, despite huge
revenue accrued to it for the past three years,” he said.