The Chairman of the Osun State chapter of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Dr. Tosin Odeyemi, has condemned last Friday’s attack by members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) on fellow members of the same party in Osun State, AMILOADED reports.
Some prominent members of a caucus within the APC in Osun State, The Osun Progressive (TOP), who are believed to loyalists of the former governor of the state and the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, were allegedly attacked by the ILERI OLUWA GROUP, the loyalists of the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola, at the party secretariat in Osogbo, the state capital, while on a peaceful procession.
However, Odeyemi, while reacting to the incident, said the unprovoked attack between the two groups, which has caused social unrest in the state because they belonged to different factions, was the height of political intolerance and has heightened the doubts most Nigerians have about the ability of the APC-led administration to properly govern and guarantee free and fair elections in Osun State as well as the 2023 general elections.
He said, “The open boasts and direct threats by the Ileri Oluwa Group to deal with the TOP group is beginning to manifest, an impunity and a glaring partisanship clearly endorsed by the ruling party.
“We, the members of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in this instance, demand for justice, a peaceful and violence-free and enforcement of our fundamental human rights. We stand with the good things about of Osun State and Nigeria as a whole in confronting this rising tyranny and defeating barbaric tendencies of the All Progressive Congress in the state,”
The Chairman of the Osun State chapter of the NNPP, who also doubles as IPAC Secretary, said the international community should be put on notice that the present government is violent and too desperate to be trusted to protect the fundamental rights of Nigerians and to conduct free and fair elections going forward. He further berated the People’s Democratic Party for lacking internal mechanism to resolve intraparty crisis.
Nigerians, according to him, are confronted with “a government that sanctions impunity while laying false claims to being democratic or progressive.”
“This is not the liberty we seek or the democracy we need. What happened in Osun State last week was criminal. It is unacceptable. It is a direct assault on the rights and freedom of the people and it must not be allowed to stand.
“The ruling APC should be busy with how to create jobs, provide security, ensure health infrastructure, socioeconomic development and provide life more abundant for millions of our people instead of engaging in power tussle with same fellow party members,” Odeyemi added.
The Chairman of the NNPP, however, enjoined the residents of the state “to embrace and join the NNPP as the best alternative to the present APC government in the state and Nigeria”.
“NNPP is not about the promotion and perpetration of violence, but about sound ideas, good governance and healthy competition in an atmosphere that is free and fair. NNPP is coming up as a third force with a clear vision of saving the good people of Osun State,” Odeyemi said.
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