2nd February, 2021
The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lambasted the Ogun State government for saying it did not invite Sunday Adeyemo to help solve its security challenges.
Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, on Monday, stormed Igua, Yewa North Local area of Ogun State to chase away herdsmen, days after he visited Igangan in Oyo State to sack Fulani herdsmen, whom he accused of killings, kidnapping among others.
It was reported that houses belonging to Fulani herdsmen and a cow market were set ablaze in Igua during his visit.
But, the Ogun State Government, in a statement signed on Monday by the Commissioner for Information, Waheed Odusile, said it did not seek the assistance of Sunday Igboho in Ogun.
Reacting, the PDP said, “the shameless disclaimer on the intervention of Chief Sunday Adeyemo is clear evidence that all is not well with the government.
“It is a manifestation of the fact that the government is not only confused by its manifest failures in core areas of governance, it shows that the government is obviously bereft of problem-solving ideas and initiatives.”
In a statement signed by the State Chairman, Sikirulahi Ogundele, the PDP recalled that “the ruling APC government in Ogun State has earlier made a public statement through one Remi Hazzan on purported invitation to the popular Pan Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, on the growing advocacy for self-help in the face of deteriorating issues of security across the South West zone and Ogun State in particular.”
The party said it was, however, not too surprised to see the same government, in what it called its “unending penchant for confusion and ‘trial and error’, issuing a disclaimer to what its official had earlier confirmed”; saying it “wonders when the ruling government would desist from blowing cold and hot at the same time.”
The statement reads in part:
“For us as a pro-people party, the government’s disclaimer seems to be an attempt to pull wool to cover the eyes of Ogun people from the facts. The denial is a blatant attempt to massage the ego of the General Muhamadu Buhari-led federal government.
“In the last few days, we heard the news of how Fulani herdsmen were allegedly led by a team of fully armed military personnel into a sleepy rural community around Ijoun, Yewa North axis of Ogun state. The reports of harassment, beating, and molestation of locals and some community leaders who tried to prevent the trespass by the herdsmen was conveniently waved off by the ruling government.
“On this, the ruling APC government maintains silence all in a desperate attempt to satisfy the whims and caprices of the Federal Government, which has successfully turned itself into the official mouthpiece of criminal elements amongst the herdsmen.
However, as a political party with good conscience, we shall continue to follow, educate and mobilise members of the public on all insecurity challenges going on in Ogun State and in Nigeria with rapt alertness and will issue full condemnation to the killings of innocent citizens and residents by foreign or local Fulani or any criminal group in the state.
“Without any delay, we make bold to, therefore, call on the ruling government to go an extra mile and be bold enough to engage all stakeholders in the State and South West, particularly anyone or group who volunteers to assist the state in stemming the current trend of insecurity.”