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Oyo State government, on Tuesday accused the opposition All Progressives Congress(APC) of planning to plunge the state into crisis.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser on Strategy and Political Matters to the governor, Hon. Babatunde Oduyoye, the government said it was not oblivious of the intent of some elements in the main opposition party to plunge the state into crisis and possibly make it ungovernable, adding that the letter from the office of Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was part of the grand plot to frustrate the Makinde’s government, thereby preventing him from delivering the dividends of democracy to the people.
Oduyoye said the APC’s plan to fight Makinde to a standstill and create tension in the state would come to nought because ” the people of Oyo State have seen through it all.”
The Special Adviser disclosed that intelligence reports had already indicated that leaders of the APC had marked Makinde as their public enemy number one.
Oduyoye further stated that the letter purportedly written by Malami to Makinde over the dissolution of elected council executives is subjudice.
He said as long as the matter was still before the Court of Appeal, no one is expected to take extra-constitutional measures, except such a person is nursing ulterior motives, adding that Malami has committed an obvious blunder by taking a step against the interest of the judiciary and the Constitution he was meant to protect.
“The matter is in court and as far as we are concerned, it is subjudice,” he said.
The Special Adviser noted that the statement made by a serving Senator of the APC, who indicated that his party had set traps for Makinde made it clear that “the desperation of APC elements knows no limits.’
His words: “We have read a letter being circulated in the social media by elements of the APC in which the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), gave a directive to Governor Seyi Makinde to reverse the House of Assembly’s decision to suspend the 68 illegal chairmen of local governments in Oyo State.
“That directive, apart from being unconstitutional and misplaced, is part of the APC’s grand plot to cause a major crisis in Oyo State in order to destabilise the Government of Governor Makinde and ultimately make the State ungovernable.
“We have intelligence report over series of meetings held by APC leaders, who now feel threatened by Governor Makinde’s soaring profile. They are worried at the manner in which he defeated the APC at the polls and were ashamed that the Supreme Court thwarted their organised attempt to steal his mandate.
“Makinde’s enemies in the APC have also found it repulsive that his stance on the Western Nigerian Security Network, popularly named Amotekun, was driving the security outfit to success.
“We are really not surprised by the desperation of the APC to destabilise Oyo State, ever since it failed in the Governorship election, it has been employing underhand tactics to steal Makinde’s mandate and one of its senators, Teslim Folarin, had even gone as far as saying that the APC had set two traps for the Makinde Government.
“Let us warn those elements who are pushing to destabilise Oyo State through the unholy resurrection of the sacked Council Chairmen that the people of Oyo State will not be used as a tool by unscrupulous elements.
“The Federal Government also needed to be reminded that Nigeria is a federation, with constitutionally guaranteed democratic systems. We urge the government at the centre to await the decision of the court on the matter of local government councils in Oyo State rather than use attempt to resort to illegality and measures that are not backed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”