The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has come hard on the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, labelling it as intolerant and insensitive for ensuring that one of its members, Saheed Akinloye, was remanded in prison over a Facebook post.
Akinloye was on Tuesday arraigned before a Magistrate for alleging in a Facebook post that the Osun State Government imported into the state COVID-19 patients to claim money from the Federal Government.
However the PDP in a statement by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Prince Diran Odeyemi, and made available to journalists in Ibadan, questioned the insistence of the Magistrate on sending Akinloye to remand for a bailable offence.
He said the insistence of the state’s Ministry of Justice represented by its acting Permanent Secretary, the Director of Public Prosecution and three other counsel in court, to take over the case was an indication that the administration of Oyetola had already commenced clampdown on the opposition.
He then wondered why a government that allegedly could not provide food for 20 per cent of its citizens, allegedly imported adulterated rice for them and still ordered they should stay at home to prevent spread of coronavirus, would only be jeered back to life when an opposition was to be dealt with.
He recalled all sort of ‘satanic’ Facebook posts, reckless utterances by state government officials and members of the All Progressive Congress, APC, targeted at PDP and its members in the past which never attracted any serious reaction from the party.
Odeyemi urged Oyetola to speed up investigation into the supply of adulterated rice saying those involved were the real enemies of Osun.
He disclosed that Akinloye was just a passionate indigene, who expressed candid opinion on the mystery around ghostly coronavirus patients in Ejigbo isolation centre and should not be killed in detention, as being insinuated by people.
The statement reads in part: “Oyetola and APC in Osun are setting precedence. They won’t be in power for ever and whatever they are doing now will shape the future of political engagement in the state.”
