Osun APC, Accord fight over security vehicles

By Ismail Azeez

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the ruling Accord Party have begun to exchange words over the purchase of security vehicles for the Osun State Police Command.

The APC berated the ruling party and Governor Ademola Adeleke for criticising against purchasing of Police vehicles by LG Council Executives, stating that their inability to know that the issue of security of the lives and property of the people towers above any other statutory responsibilities of all the levels of government at all times.

The main opposition party on Tuesday, through its Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi said that ill-advised criticism of the Accord Party against the statutory efforts of the legally-reinstated APC local government council chairmen to render provisional support to the police in the fight against commission of crimes which Governor Ademola Adeleke has not deemed fit to address for over three years is uncalled for, frivolous and ill-motivated.

According to APC, "We observe that the main problem and pains of the Accord Party is not the laudable policy that the legally-reinstated APC local government council chairmen have already achieved over the plan to help the police in fighting crimes across the state but the fact that the proactive patriotic actions of the council executives have succeeded in exposing the Adeleke-led government of grossly lacking in its priority of its constitutional roles to the innocent people of the state.

"We wonder why a supposed ruling party which is supposed to commend the patriotic efforts of the reinstated APC council executives should be the one to be in the lead in shooting down the good intention of the council chairmen and councillors.

"Does Adeleke need to blame anyone if his series of misplaced priorities like the spending of over N600 million to renovate a local shrine in Ede, his home town, have been some of the factors causing the rejection of his government by the highest percentage of the people of the state?

"It is disheartening that a bunch of the disoriented, wobbled and frustrated political entities under the auspicious of one unknown and unpopular Accord Party who ideally should be commending the efforts of the 10th February, 2025 Court of Appeal reinstated APC local government council chairmen and councillors for being a potent factor in fighting crimes in the state have shamelessly formed themselves into a clog in the wheel of the patriotic effort for progress in the state.

"If the Accord Party, Adeleke and the hoard of his political hangers-on cannot see the good intention in the APC-controlled local government council chairmen in helping the police to fight crimes, it means they need help which however, is belated as their occupation of the state for over three years has exposed them as grossly lacking in the required attributes needed to effectively develop the state.

"Governor Adeleke and his cohorts should continue to live with the undeniable fact that the APC reinstated council executives remain the legally elected council chairmen in Osun State until they finally exhaust all legal opportunities of their tenure determination up till the Supreme Court which expressly gave them an unconditional autonomy in its judgement.

"It is only a government that is administratively challenged that will refuse to come to terms with the undeniable fact that it is an anomaly for any level of government to subject the issue of security to needless politicisation as it is being currently witnessed under the dwindling administration of Governor Adeleke.

Earlier, the Osun State chapter of the Accord has cautioned the Osun State Police Command against accepting vehicle donations from the court-sacked council chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC), warning that such donations are proceeds of criminal enterprise that may implicate the police.

The chairman, Accord party, Pastor Victor Akande, in a statement alerted the public that the illegal APC chairmen have again diverted parts of the hijacked Osun local government funds for the purchase of vehicles to be donated to the police service.

The party appealed to the Inspector-General of Police to stop what it described as a brazen attempt to further compromise the police service through illegal donations derived from criminal conduct.

Akande tasked the IGP to direct the Osun Police Command not to accept such offers, noting that the subject matter is already before several courts of law, while some senior officials of the UBA are standing trial for the alleged criminal diversion of Osun local government funds.

According to him, “We have it on good authority that, as part of the entire criminal arrangement by the APC chairmen, the police are to be incorporated into the scheme through donations of vehicles and motorcycles to all divisional and zonal police commands. The agenda is to permanently disempower the police by making the service an accomplice in the criminal diversion of Osun local government funds for more than a year now.

“We also gathered that the sharing of the vehicles may start within the next week across the state. It was also learnt that a segment of the police that has been providing security cover for the illegal chairmen, whose falsely claimed tenure lapses in October 2025, is also partnering with the APC chairmen in pursuance of this alleged bribery agenda.

“We alert the police that accepting car donations from the APC chairmen will amount to open support for the diversion of funds meant for local government workers for bribery purposes. This scenario will not only compromise the integrity of the police but will also implicate the service in the many criminal trials ongoing on the subject of Osun local government funds trapped at the United Bank for Africa.

“The party noted that the police in Osun State are already negatively perceived due to alleged open and illegal protection for APC chiefs with expired tenure, warning that collecting vehicles which are proceeds of crime will directly place the police in a condemnable violation of criminal laws," he said.