Osun APC, PDP disagree on alleged police intimidation

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State has decried the alleged use of some police officers by the state governor, Ademola Adeleke to hunt, intimidate, humiliate, arrest and dehumanise the major opposition party members in the state.

The APC also alleged that at the prompting of the state governor, many of the leading lights of the party in the state have been invited and investigated by the police over frivolous reasons.

In a statement by the party chairman, Tajudeen Lawal and obtained by DAILY POST on Friday, the party alleged that the actions were carried out with the intention of caging the members of the opposition.

According to the statement, “Information has it that Mr Akin Adeyi, a chieftain of the APC and respected socio-political commentator on the social media platforms, has been invited copiously within a couple of days by the Zone 11 Command of the Nigeria Police, with its headquarters in Osogbo, based on some frivolous petitions written by an appointed political functionary in the administration of Governor Adeleke.

“Further investigation also revealed that strange telephone calls from police officers from both Zone 11 and the Osun State Police Command have been needlessly extended to some of the APC chieftains and members, inviting them over frivolous petitions by the governor and his cohorts.”

Lawal appealed to the Inspector-General of Police to urgently prevail on Zone 11 and the State Command to resist being used by unfortunate political gladiators in the state whose popularity has taken a back seat.

“Opposition is a necessary and vital ingredient of any democratic government which has to be contended with by any government which is not graduating to dictatorship.

“Now that Adeyi has filed his court processes challenging the enforcement of his fundamental right at the Federal High Court, sitting in Osogbo, the police have no other choice than to allow him be.

Reacting, the Osun Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chairman, Sunday Bisi in a statement advised the opposition to purge itself and come to terms with inalienable realities of the law.

Bisi affirmed that the law was put in place to regulate citizens’ conduct and also to differentiate civilised societies.

He said, “Again, PDP emphasises that Osun State is a federating unit of Nigeria where Cyberstalking and cyberbullying have been made serious offences. The APC should also be reminded that these cybercrime-related laws were passed under the APC administration in Nigeria and make them applicable anywhere in the country.

“Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act of 2015 criminalises cyberstalking and cyberbullying, and offenders can face penalties such as imprisonment for up to 10 years, fines of up to N25 million, forfeitures and other sundry penalties.

“The APC, instead of exposing their mental inefficiency to the civilized world, should gather their team of baby lawyers as usual and put them forward to defend Akin Adeyi’s atrocious activities. Members of the public that the APC is trying to ambush their sympathy are already well ahead of them intellectually.

“We wonder what has gone wrong with APC and its leadership, asking the same police who Akin Adeyi himself had praised to high heavens for respecting and offering him bail on self-recognition, only to now begin to cast aspersions on the security agency after he went off the lane by portraying the operatives as minions on their job.”

Sunday Bisi called on the police authorities to be alive to their responsibilities of a peaceful society by refusing to succumb to the evil antics of the APC.