Struggle on Oyetola’s Return: PDP, Atiku/Okowa DG, fight Osun Speaker dirty
…Oyetola will be returned as Governor — Speaker
…Oyetola, Speaker, listening to devil’s whispering — PDP
By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo
Osun State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has tackled the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Timothy Owoeye, over his prediction that Mr. Gboyega Oyetola will return to Osun state as Govenor before July 5, this year.
The party described the number three citizen of the State as a lawmaker who had betrayed his oath of office as the Speaker of the State.
PDP in a statement jointly signed by the caretaker Chairman, Dr Akindele Adekunle and Director General of Atiku Okowa Presidential Campiagn Council, Hon. Sunday Bisi said Owoeye and the immediate past Governor, Gboyega Oyetola are hallucinating just as they advised them to stop chasing the craft that has already fled.
Nigerian NewsDirect reports that Osun House of Assembly Speaker, Timothy Owoeye had on Thursday during the inauguration of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) in Osogbo, the Osun State Capital, emphatically said that before July 5, 2023, Oyetola will return to Osun as Govenor.
Reacting to the statement, PDP berated the Speaker and Oyetola over what it described as their consistent anti-democratic posture, unrepentant hatred for ballot boxes and anti-people agenda over the election of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
“We at first decried the failure of the Speaker to respect the office he is occupying, to rise above petty partisan politics and to tell the truth to Mr. Oyetola who of recent has been listening to devil’s whispering. We condemn in no small measure the lack of courage and demise of statesmanship demonstrated by the House Speaker who today openly revolted against the will of Osun People and who has unashamedly embraced ignoble falsehood and propaganda of a defeated Oyetola.
“We had thought the House Speaker has risen to act like a statesman like former American Vice President, Mike Pence, who at the most critical moment faced up to his boss, Mr Trump, to tell him that Americans voters are Supreme to a sit-tight leader who was ready to destroy democracy. Unfortunately, Mr Owoeye today failed the test as rather than faced the election denier, the small Trump of Osun, he weakly adopted the path of little tyrants who detest the people and all what democracy represents.
“We are at the same time alarmed that a sitting House Speaker has openly exposed a sinister agenda to undermine the integrity of the judiciary by making proclamations on a matter that is subjudice.
“We want to put it on record that it is against protocol, against democratic sense of judgement and against all civilised norms to pre-empt judicial outcomes. The House Speaker should apologise to the judiciary, retract his reprehensible statement and summon courage to exit puppet garb of supposed leader who is worshipping at the feet of a man incapable of listening to the voice of God.
“As a political party, we are convinced and rightly so that the Speaker’s fanciful wish is a grand hallucination. Governor Ademola Adeleke is a duly elected Governor of Osun State who was robbed in 2018 but whose victory was widely confirmed and validated in 2022 by God, the people and even the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, the leader of the Speaker’s party.
“In case the House Speaker is also listening to devil’s whispering, we affirm that the voice of the people is the voice of God. In case the Speaker is only massaging Mr Oyetola’s ego, we urge him to be a Mr Pence, telling the truth to Turmpists. If Hon. Owoeye is however serious about his unpopular outburst, let him know that nobody rises against the people and win. The people rule and they are solidly with Governor Ademola Adeleke,” the statement noted.
Calling Osun people to rebuke the APC at the ballot in February, the statement reminded the people of Osun of what it described as the lies and deceit of the APC as a party that brought untold hardship on the state and Nigeria as a whole, asserting that rejecting the APC “at all levels is the best response to a gang hell bent on sustaining their evil reign on the nation.
“Reject them at the polls in February by voting PDP candidates at state and national levels. Send them packing as you had done in Osun. Rebuke them and let them know that Imole must shine across the country,” the statement concluded.
The Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Rt Honourable Timothy Owoeye, on Thursday had said Oyetola will return as the Govenor of the State before July 5, 2023.
Owoeye, who said categorically that the people of the State, especially APC members, should have their minds at rest, said Oyetola will reclaim his mandate before July 5, this year.
Noting that the Supreme Court on July 5, 2019, declared him (Oyetola) the winner of the September 2018 governorship election, Owoeye said the supreme court will rule over the ongoing matter before July 5, this year, and return Oyetola.
Owoeye spoke at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council at the Tinubu/Shettima campaign office, Osogbo.
He appealed to the people of the State to come out en masse and cast their votes for APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, state and national assembly candidates in the coming general elections.
He, however, expressed optimism that the candidates of the party would emerge victorious in the coming general elections.
“You will recall that the supreme court declared Oyetola winner on July 5, 2019. The coming one will not be up to July 5 and Oyetola will be returned as governor.
“They think they can cheat us. We thank God for the BVAS that revealed the secret. You can see that they cannot appoint anything.
“Tinubu is moving around the country and someone sitting in Adamawa or Anambra saying they want to get power,” he added.
Owoeye also debunked the rumour that some APC legislators are moving to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying “none of the members of APC in the assembly will go. No vacancy in the Osun Assembly. What they are saying is just politics. APC members remain firm. Nobody is going anywhere,” he stated.
