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Tag: Iyiola Omisore

  • Osun APC: Omisore is a sore loser

    Osun APC: Omisore is a sore loser

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Saturday’s poll, Senator Iyiola Omisore, lost “fairly”.

    APC was reacting to Omisore’s remarks that his defeat was due to the damage done to him and his party by the former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Rufus Akeju.

    Omisore said: “We had a situation where a clearly partisan REC had opened the entire electoral system to our opponent from the registration stage through data storage to personnel loading… Before he left, he did a lot of harm in the system that would take years to rectify.”

    In a statement yesterday, APC said: “To accuse the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Akeju, especially, is the hallmark of a man in delusional stupor. He has not been able to climb down from his high horse of living a lie.

    “Omisore lost fair and square because the people rejected him for his notoriety as a violently–disposed individual. Secondly, he offered nothing to the people except to promise the destruction of everything the people were enjoying from Aregbesola’s administration. He presented himself to the people as a destroyer, not a builder, and instilled fear in the hearts of Osun people.

    “That was why, in spite of the security apparatus of the Nigerian state put at his disposal and that of Osun PDP; the terrorist marksmen from Bayelsa State brought to Osun by Asari Dokubo and Tompolo; and the army of thugs within the state available to Omisore and the PDP, they could neither persuade nor intimidate the people to vote for them.

    “That Omisore cannot figure out why he suffered such a defeat shows the shallowness of his intellect and the immaturity of his political engagement. We hope the committee he set up to find out why he lost the election will detect the fraud and the lie in which they had lived, deluding themselves that Aregbesola was ‘unpopular’ in the state.

    “Omisore knew when he was about to cast his vote that the odds were against him. In one brief moment, he was forced to say a little prayer (maybe for forgiveness) before he voted.

    “He talked about fraud by INEC without producing a shred of evidence. He is just setting up a committee to look for that fraud. The path of honour, if he has any left, is to accept defeat honourably and move on.”

     

  • Voters ‘ll resist rigging

    Voters ‘ll resist rigging

    In this piece, Lateef Raji, who highlights the issues that will shape the Osun State governorship poll, submits that voters will not tolerate electoral malpractices. 

    August is finally here and the countdown to the  Osun governorship election has begun. The man to beat is Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He has in the past three months traversed the nooks and crannies of the state, showcasing his accomplishments   justify the peoples’ confidence. He also promised to do more in his second term.

    On the other hand, his main challenger, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyiola Omisore has not impressed the people as deputy governor and senator. In the absence of any manifesto, he had no option than to resort to  rely on the Federal Government for froops deployment.

    True to his boasts, like they did in Ekiti, two weeks to the election, the  militarisation of Osun State has commenced and the dogs of war have begun shooting sporadically to heighten tension and intimidate the electorates, ahead of the elections.

    They have similarly recruited mercenaries from the Niger Delta, and the goons are on ground as well. This, however, is an insult.  Importing a band of ill-bred and uncouth thugs to come and truncate the wishes of the people is wrong.

    However, unlike Ekiti where they had a free reign because we were caught unawares as a result of our underestimation of their desperation, we now have  these facts and much more, and I make bold to assert that the game is up for the PDP in the Southwest. The election of August 9 will be a turning point for Nigerians as we begin to roll back the fortunes of the PDP that has inflicted pain and sorrow on the country and its people ahead of 2015.

    Basking in the euphoria of their victory in Ekiti, the leadership of the PDP had no inhibition to equate the singular occurrence that shocked all critical observers for acceptance in Yorubaland. They see Osun as a walkover. Billions of naira have been moved in to bribe, seduce and influence our people.

    The fact, however, is that Osun State presents a different political terrain in comparison to Ekiti.

    The issues that are germane to the average voter in Osun are far removed from those that played out in Ekiti. The Oyos, Ijesas, Igbominas, Ifes, Ibolos, etc. will place a higher premium on the quality of education for their children, the availability of healthcare services, functional infrastructure that have been the priority of the Aregbesola than the populist pretentions of an Ayo Fayose aptly aped by Iyiola Omisore in his public appearances.

    They have equally taken little cognisance of the temerity of the man they are up against, aside the monumental achievements recorded by Aregbe-sola, which are sufficient to see him through; he is a grassroots man and has always identified with the people and he is always in their midst. Little surprise he is so popular, and they found it convenient to relate with him, unlike the corn eating aspirant.

    The cohesion the APC enjoys in Osun State is a critical success factor that would ensure victory for Ogbeni Aregbesola. There is no crisis in the APC in Osun State.

    Like the saying goes ‘’the cream would always settle at the top,’’ which depicts that Ogbeni’s performance is enough to make him coast to victory with little or minimal effort. Ogbeni Rauf has preformed creditably like Kayode Fayemi, but the not taking any chance, which explains why he has been able to engage the people with grassroots programmes like Ogbeni until day break, gbangbadekun, labe odan to mention a few, which show how connected he is to the grassroots.

    The people of Osun are not only sophisticated, but they very wise and they can discern. The death of the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice is still very fresh in the minds of Osun people. The good news is that the PDP,  lost the Osun State gubernatorial election the very day Omisore was imposed as the flag bearer of the party in a kangaroo primary election. His character and antecedents  are enough to convince the people to vote the incumbent. Notwithstanding, Omisore is aware of this, but would be banking on the support from Abuja to rig. But, Osun people would resist any form of militarisation and rigging.

    The PDP umbrella suffered a setback when one of their strong pillars, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, defected to the APC.

    Aregbesola’s empowerment program has impacted on lives in almost every home in the state of Osun having employed twenty thousand young and able youths in his first 100 days in office. He feeds school children with balanced diet meals daily. Ogbeni’s administration introduction of ‘’Opon Imo’’ a high-tech educational electronic device or tablet has revolutionized learning.

    The last straw that broke the camel’s back for Senator Iyiola Omisore was his refusal to participate in the live debate.

    At this juncture, it behooves on APC to challenge INEC to fastrack the distribution of permanent voter’s card (PVC) to  avert the insinuation of rigging, which is synonymous with the PDP style of “winning” elections. These they have done in several places but the good people of Osun would vehemently resist any such shenanigan.

    On a last note, it is confounding that it is the PDP that has raped and reaped so much from the  democratic rule that has become the greatest threat to its sustenance with its intolerance of the opposition.

    They have refused to learn from the experience of the NPC and the NPN. For Osun State and come 2015, we are prepared and better organised in a way that the armed men they have shipped in, in order to intimidate our people and suppress popular will, will end up turning the barrels on themselves, and on the day after, they shall depart the State of Osun in shame with their tails tucked in between their hind legs.

     

    • Rajiis Special Adviser to the governor of Lagos State on Information and Strategy.

     

  • Osun: The CAN-didate you know

    Osun: The CAN-didate you know

    It’s E –Day in Osun State on Saturday. In just 48-hours, all the huffing and puffing; all the stomping about the state in the last few weeks will be over. Hopefully the people of Osun, the Omoluabis, would have made their choice and the initial winners and losers will emerge. The electoral battle between incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Senator Iyiola Omisore promises to be one of the most keenly contested in Nigeria’s recent history.

    Were it in those days when the world wrote on scrolls and in long hand, Hardball would wager that a whole library of scrolls would have been filled with verbiage on the Osun election. In other words, there is hardly anything left to be said in this epic battle. All the boastings have been boasted, all the posturing have been postured; all that is left is for all parties to keep awake and ensure that the voting and collating processes are truly free, fair and without any glitch.

    It may well signpost one of the most significant battles between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) behemoth and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Whichever party wins this will gain an important edge over the other. If PDP’s Omisore wins, it would amount to a most momentous victory for his party and may have set up a groundswell for the re-capture of the Southwest by the PDP, considering that Ondo and recently, Ekiti had been lost by APC. It is indeed a must win for Ogbeni and his party if only to stem the recent losses and imbue reassurance.

    Ogbeni had put up a modest performance in the past three and a half years, surpassing the record of most of his predecessors. He is a man of the people, a man who cares passionately about the welfare of the people. He is the direct antithesis of Omisore, who could be appropriately qualified as a member of the conservative old order. He was a deputy governor and then he has been a senator since 2003. That is about all for his achievements and claim to leadership unless you want to recount the unfortunate incidence of the gruesome killing of Chief Bola Ige of which Omisore was seriously linked, though a court discharged and acquitted him.

    Great leaders and politicians would naturally seize the grand pedestal of the Senate to define themselves and their raison d’etre.  But it is sad to admit that Omisore’s time in the upper chamber remains an insignificant blip in the annals of his people. A man who could not manage to be a great senator, how can he deign to seek to make a good governor? Most notably, one would have thought he would run an intellectualised campaign, carefully articulating his ideas; sadly, it has been a puerile outing, with the electorate not knowing neither what Omisore stands for, nor what he seeks to offer.

    Finally, it has been widely conjectured that the Osun election may be crucially decided by the votes of Christians led by members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). If that truly be the case, then one can be sure that the best candidate would be victorious because CAN is a most rational entity.

     

  • Omisore’s loyalist leads others to APC

    Omisore’s loyalist leads others to APC

    OSUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has welcomed thousands of supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship candidate, Iyiola Omisore, into the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a colourful campaign in Ifetedo.

    They were led by a loyalist of the PDP candidate and a former Chairman of Ife South Local Government Area, Diran Ayanbekun.

    Ayanbekun, who is also a former Chairman of the state House of Assembly Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, said he and his supporters decided to join the APC because of Aregbesola’s achievements.

    He revealed that after a thorough study of events and his love for development, he decided to join the APC since his former party had nothing serious to offer the people.

    Aregbesola, while receiving the former PDP members, pledged that his second tenure would mark the end of lack of basic infrastructure.

    He assured the people that his administration would build more roads and other social amenities in Ife-South Local Government.

    He said: “We thank you for your supports and we thank God that we have not disappointed you. We have been to the palace and we have noted all what the Kabiyesi said.

    “Our second term can only be better. Because by the time we would have finished our second term in office, Osun will not lack any social amenity and it will be a place of pride.”

    There are 42 major towns and villages and hundreds of hamlets in Ife South. Created out of the old Oranyiyan Local Government Area, the council is delineated into 11 wards.

    Earlier, the Olubosin of Ifetedoland, Oba Ilori Olowosoke, who spoke through the National President, Ifetedo Progressive Union, Prince Bisi Adeshingbin, praised the governor for bringing  infrastructure development to the area.

    Adeshingbin requested that the governor should appoint more sons and daughters of Ifetedoland into the state cabinet during his second term.

    He charged the governor not to relent on his oars, adding that his second tenure must be better than the first.

    “We are happy with what you are doing in our area and the state at large. We pray that you will not relent in the good work you have started when you come into office again.

    “We will continue to pray for you because the good works you are doing are visible. But like Oliver Twist, we will like you to do more for Ifetedo people to be part of your cabinet,” he said.

  • Omisore’s negative campaign in Osun

    SIR: Senator Iyiola Omisore, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the August 9, governorship election in Osun State has been going about his campaign in the most negative way. This could be either he is not acquainted with the fine art of mounting the soap box or he does not believe in wooing the electorate whom he hopes to preside over.

    He has been going round telling lies and intimidating the people. He has never proposed any agenda of governance. Rather, all he keeps telling people is that he would reverse all the policies of Governor Rauf Aregbesola on education. He kept referring to Osun indigenes that have returned home to help in the development of their state as ‘foreigners’. He has been bandying words like ‘capital flight’ without explaining what he meant (obviously, he does not know the meaning).

    He does not know and does not care to know about the policy of backward integration in the state that mandates contractors and government officials to maximise items purchases in the markets in the state and it is only where this is not available that other markets can be considered.

    He also is not aware of the 10-kilometre roads constructed in each local government and handled exclusively by local contractors.

    He has also been constituting nuisance everywhere he goes to campaign. His convoy would deliberately block the roads and force other motorists to queue behind them for hours, in order to give the impression that they are all together. This infuriates them to no end. Then his scanty crowd at the Gbongan Road campaign office will take over the entire express road, stalling traffic on the ever busy road, in gross act of lawlessness.

    On the contrary, the All Progressive Congress (APC) secretariat on the other side of the road, though with bigger crowd, conducts its affairs with discretion, with its crowd tucked neatly into the belly of its wide compound.

    While the state governor moves quietly, without siren and not disturbing anyone, Omisore’s convoy moves about the state menacingly, driving other road users out of the road with his thugs hanging precariously on tailboards, car bumpers and car roofs, with doors open, wielding various cudgels and whips, creating an atmosphere of terror and insecurity, making citizens and other road users to scamper for safety.

    The worst part is that he keeps threatening every community he goes to campaign that he would flood their communities with soldiers and arrest their leaders and opposition figures few days before the election. I thought he could not do this but I was horrified to hear him on tape threatening the people of Ifewara that he would flood the community with soldiers who would not hear a single Yoruba word.

    He has never articulated any policy on education, healthcare, job creation, agriculture, infrastructure, rural development and road construction. How on earth does he hope to win?

    Distributing kerosene and other subversive gifts a few days before the election will simply not cut it. He does not know that he is being tolerated and August 9 would be his Judgement Day.

    • Michael Ogundele,

    Osogbo, Osun State

  • Omisore, Akinbade absent at Osun governorship election debate

    Omisore, Akinbade absent at Osun governorship election debate

    THE candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] in the August 9 governorship election in Osun state, Chief Iyiola Omisore, went missing yesterday at a radio debate where he was supposed to square up to the incumbent,Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    Aregbesola is flying the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.

    Also unavailable   at yesterday’s debate organized by the International Republican Institute [IRI]was Alhaji Fatai Akinbade of Labour Party (LP).

    The absence of other leading contenders in the election left the candidate of the All Progressives Congress [APC], Rauf Aregbesola, having all the time allotted for the “Manifesto Hour” programme to himself.

    Although  Akinbade, sent his running mate to stand in for him the debate  organisers disallowed him from participating, saying the rule was that candidates would not be represented by proxies.

    The Unity Party of Nigeria [UPN]  candidate, Ibrahim Adeoti, who was not invited to the debate, was allowed time to speak even when he was not initially invited.

    He walked in on his own and insisted to be allowed to speak.

    Organizers were shocked at Omisore and Akinbade’s  failure to turn uo.

    ”We wrote to them and up to 20 minutes to the beginning of the programme, they were still giving us the impression they would be attending,” said Ezenwa Nwagwu, an official of the Partners for Electoral Reform, who moderated the debate on behalf of the IRI.

    “We even started the debate 45 minutes late just because we were waiting for the PDP and LP candidates to show up.”

    The Director of Media and Strategy,Omisore’s Campaign |Organisation, Diran Odeyemi, claimed  his principal was not properly invited.

    ”It was only this morning (yesterday) that our candidate (Mr. Omisore) received a text message reminding him of the debate and that he was being expected at the OSBC studios,” Mr. Odeyemi said,adding:”We did not receive any letter from them. We have a rally today in Ikirun and as I speak to you, we are on our way there.”

    But Mr. Nwagwu rubbished  Mr. Odeyemi’s claim, calling  it “mere political shenanigan”.

    “We invited them properly,” Mr. Nwagwu said. “It was not verbal invitations. We wrote them letters and the records are there. If we did not properly invite them, how did the APC candidate attend? How did the LP candidate get to send his running mate?”

    The Labour Party admitted that Akinbade was invited but explained that he could not personally attend  as he had another appointment to keep,hence the decision to his running mate.

    ”In order not to create a vacuum, he sent his running mate but the organizers did not allow him to speak,” said Kayode Oladeji, the spokesperson for Mr. Akinbade, the LP candidate.

    “As far as we are concerned, we fulfilled all righteousness. It is the organisers thst should explain why they did not allow our candidate’s running mate to participate.”

    However, Mr. Nwagwu declared that  rules were clear from the start.

    “We had made it clear that only candidates, and not their running mates were expected to participate. There was no room for running mates and they all know that,” he said.

    Aregbesola told listeners  that the best thing to have happened in the  since its creation   are his programmes which the PDP wants to destroy.

  • How we broke into Omisore’s house, raped his maid – Chadian robbery suspects

    How we broke into Omisore’s house, raped his maid – Chadian robbery suspects

    Four suspected members of a robbery gang made up of Chad nationals have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command after allegedly carrying out an attack on the Ikoyi, Lagos home of the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    A police source told our correspondent that the suspects stormed the senator’s house at No. 11, Thomson Avenue, Ikoyi at about 2 am on June 18, 2014 and used an iron cutter to cut the electrified wire on top of the fence before they jumped into the compound, raping a housemaid and stealing valuable items.

    Once they had gained entry, they were said to have bound the two security men that guided the house with ropes and told a member of the gang named Musa to watch over the security guards. With one of the iron cutters in their possession, they cut the burglary proof on the door and gained entry into the house.

    They were also said to have pointed a gun at the housemaid and ordered her to undress. The hapless housemaid was said to have been reluctant in carrying out the invaders’ instruction, following which they became angry and beat her mercilessly, tearing her clothe and stripping her naked before assaulting her sexually.

    The poor housemaid was said to have been left unconscious by the robbers who also ransacked the rooms. The Senator, who is based in Abuja and currently campaigning for the governorship seat of Osun State, was said not to be at home at the time the robbers struck. A member of his domestic staff was said to have made a distress call to the Ikoyi Police Station whose men responded promptly and got to the house before the invaders could escape.

    Noticing the arrival of policemen, the robbers were said to have opened fire to scare them away and facilitate their escape, but the police responded with superior fire power, wounding one of the robbers and arresting him while the three others escaped.

    The police were said to have the suspect with bullet wound for treatment, after which he was transferred to SARS on June 19 for discreet investigation. The Commissioner of police, Mr. Umar Manko, was also said to have instructed the officer in charge of SARS, Mr. Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, to ensure that the fleeing suspects did not escape from the state or the country.

    Kyari and members of his special squad were said to have swung into action immediately, tracking down one of the suspects named Mohammed at Epe, a suburb of Lagos. Mohammed then led them to the hideout of another member of the gang named Ibrahim Abdulahi.

    Upon interrogation, Abdullahi was said to have disclosed that a member of the gang had escaped to Ibafo, an Ogun community not far away from Lagos. He was said to have led some SARS operatives to Ibafo but the suspected member of the gang opened fire on the policemen as they were approaching their hideout. The police again responded with superior fire power and cordoned off the whole area. Unknown to the police team, some other robbers lived in the house and had hid themselves in the ceiling.

    Upon entering the house, the policemen notice some strange noise in the ceiling and opened fire on the ceiling, wounding one of them in the process and arresting another without any bullet wound. The one without injury, Jidoh Sale, was immediately put in handcuffs while the one with injury was rushed to the hospital where he gave up the ghost.

    A search carried out on the uncompleted building was said to have led to the recovery of three big iron cutters, two red hand gloves, assorted charms, a chisel, a machete, a nail remover, two screw drivers, a torch, three different identity cards, voter ID cards, two Man O’ War ID cards belonging to Mohammed Yusuf and Ali Yawarb, a pen knife, a hammer and two locally made pistols.

    Confessing his involvement in the operations of the gang, one of the suspects, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said: “I am 29 years old. I am a foreigner from Amtima village in Chad. I came to Nigeria in 2010 in search of greener pastures. After three months, I secured a security job in a company in Anthony Village (Lagos). After few months, I was sacked and I went to stay with my brother at Ajah, a suburb of Lagos. I later returned to Chad to take a second wife with the little money I had saved from security work.

    “My problem started when I came back from Chad and there was no money for me to eat and feed my wives. I was thinking about how to survive when Mohammed Sale, who is still at large over his involvement in several robbery operations in Ajah and its environs, came to me with thousands of naira on him. I saw the money on him and begged him to help me, even if it was with a small amount as loan.

    “He promised to help me to get out of my financial problems. But he said he would not give me fish but will take me to the high sea to fish and eat as much fish as I wanted. I told him that a hungry would not understand riddles and that he should speak to me in plain language so that I would understand him. He then asked me to follow him.

    “He took me to Senator Omisore’s house, saying that he would put me at the gate. He said that two other people would join us later. He also told me that as soon as the work started, they would tie the two security men in the Senator’s house and that my role was to guard the security men and be the gang’s eyes while they would go inside the house to work.

    “At about 10 pm, we went to Obalende area and hid ourselves in the flower. There the two others came to join us. Around 2 am, we trekked to the Senator’s house at No.11, Thomson Avenue Ikoyi, armed with two guns, cutters and charms, among other items.

    “When we got to the house, we used a cutter to cut the electrified wire on the fence, climbed the wall and jumped inside the compound. Two dogs wanted to harass us but one of us, Mosale, pursued them. That made the two security men to wake up, as they wondered why the dogs were barking. The dogs continued to bark, showing that there were strangers in the compound, but they did not know what to do. It was while they were thinking of what they would do that Musa and Jidoh used guns to order the two security men to lie down and tied them with ropes. We then went inside the house and ransacked all the rooms.

    “We carried clothes, shoes and other things. We only spent 20 minutes. We collected a fine wrist watch and a phone. There were four of us: myself, Mosale, Idris and Mohammed Sale, but I did not join in raping the housemaid. I have two wives and three children. I cannot rape. I only wanted to get money to feed my family.

    “If I had got enough money to do business, I would not have been interested in armed robbery. Look at me, I cannot rape. If the housemaid recovers and we go for identification parade, you will see that I am telling you the truth. Not every armed robber is a beast. I don’t take hard drug. I am conscious and mentally alert every day. I don’t drink or smoke too much because it is very risky to lose control of your senses during a robbery operation. So, count me out from those who raped the housemaid.

    “Idris and Mohammed are still at large. One of our members died when we exchanged fire with SARS operatives at Ibafo.”

    Asked why Chadians enter Nigeria in droves, he said: “Our people come to Nigeria to do one job or the other. Nigeria is our best hope of greener pastures abroad. Some come with their cattle while some come to do security work in private homes and companies.

    “About 50 Chadians come to Nigeria every day to do one thing or the other, but half of us engage in armed robbery because Nigerians have many rich people and they keep big money in their cars and in their houses.

    “Whatever work we do in Nigeria gives us money with which we do reasonable things like building houses, farming and educating our children. There is a lot of money in Nigeria. Those who engage in armed robbery do so to get quick money and go back to Chad. Some do it because it is faster, but they do not kill their victims unless there is exchange of fire, because they do not carry gun for fun. They carry guns so that they can escape if they are challenged.

    “The primary aim of carrying gun is not to kill their victims but to protect themselves and to enable them escape from serious danger during and after operation. Nobody likes to kill his fellow human being just like that.

    “If I am released, I will relocate to Chad and do farming and other jobs to feed my family. I will not rob again. It was financial problems that made me to join them to rob. We are all from Chad.”

    The second suspect said: “My name is Mohammed Musa. I am 26 years old from Amdam village in Chad Republic.

    “When I came to Niegeria some years back, I secured a security job at Living Word Church, Ajah on a monthly salary of N15,000. I was on temporary appointment with the church. When I finished the job, I went to live with Ibrahim at Ajah..

    I was facing hard times in Ajah because I had no work. I had no money while Ibrahim was going out to rob and come back with a lot of money and handsets. I became jealous and begged him to allow me to follow him to his money spinning work.

    “I was still owing the Igbo man who helped me to cross to Nigeria and get security work in the church. When I was working in the church, he used to help me to get manual jobs that fetched me N1,500 every day, out of which he got a commission of N500. When I left the church, he did not know that I had relocated to Ajah, so he was still calculating the money I was supposed to be giving him every day.

    “Later, Ibrahim permitted me to follow him to do armed robbery and I celebrated it. Our gang leader is Mohammed Saleh, who is still at large.”

    Asked how he managed to get somebody to help him to cross from Chad to Nigeria without the necessary papers, he said: “If you have the papers, you can cross. But if you don’t have them, is it not somebody who will help you to cross? Money is involved at every step and I did not have the money.

    “Even when somebody helps you to cross, getting work and accommodation in Nigeria is not easy because you don’t know the country you are going to very well. You can be arrested for wandering.

    “I am not yet married. I had planned to get married after two or three robbery operations but luck was against me. I put my trust charms, not knowing that I would be confronted by SARS operatives. They rendered my charms useless.”

    The third suspect, Jidoh Sale, said: “I am 31 years old. I came with cattle from Chad. My wife is in Chad. I was arrested from one room in Ibafo. I have a room there in an uncompleted building. Area boys used to come there to collect money from every tenant. We do not know the landlord of the house till date.

    “I know that criminals live in the house. But for me to continue to live there, I have to mind my business. It is highly risky to report criminals to the police when you are living in the same place with them.

    “It was Zachariah who came into my room and told me that policemen were everywhere with powerful rifles and that their eyes could scare even a lion, so I decided to run. Unfortunately, I ran into one of the SARS operatives who had a rifle. He ordered me to stop or he would shoot me dead. I fell short of words and fell down in shock.

    “I shouted and pleaded with him not to kill me when he told me that I was playing tricks the way I fell down. He came closer to me and ordered another operative at my back to handcuff me and take me to their vehicle, which they parked near the road.

    “I know Ibrahim Abdullahi. We entered the ceiling together and jumped down together. We took different directions. I would have escaped if I had followed him.”

    Contact for comment, the Media Director, Omisore Campaign Organisation, Mr. Diran Odeyemi confirmed that the robbery took place in June. But he said it had not come to the knowledge of the governorship aspirant that the perpetrators of the act had been arrested.

    “You are the one that is just telling us about their arrest,” he told our correspondent on Thursday.

  • Omisore’s mask

    It is appropriate to ponder the import of the news picture of a masked man with a gun standing protectively behind Senator Iyiola Omisore, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Osun State governorship election on August 9, reportedly during electioneering. It was an unusual and a thought-provoking image, and it is no surprise that the rival All Progressives Congress (APC), the party of the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who is seeking a second term, was alarmed.

    In reaction, the party’s Director of Research, Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, issued a statement, saying: “Omisore was spotted during his campaign guarded by a masked, suspected armed terrorist, the first of its kind in the political history of electioneering in Yorubaland.”  He accused Omisore of “hiding behind security cover to intimidate the electorate with masked men and armed suspected terrorists,” adding: “Political terrorism has arrived in Nigeria’s democratic space by the evil construct of the PDP.”

    Interestingly, but certainly not convincingly,  Omisore’s spokesman, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, tried to shed light on his security arrangement and the identities of his guards. The defender said: “In the campaign train are men from SSS (State Security Service), the Police, Civil Defence. PDP will never preach violence; neither do we rely on thugs to win election.”  But, significantly, the counter-statement failed to explain the use of a mask. Perhaps even more importantly, there was no denial of the use of a mask.

    By creative interpretation, it is possible that the presence of the masked protector was nothing more than a publicity stunt by a candidate who is under pressure to be noticed. If that was the case, then the trick worked, given the attention he has received on account of the oddity. However, it looks like a desperately shortsighted promotional approach because it is overloaded with negativity and may be predictably counter-productive in the long run.  Beyond an imaginative rationalisation of the spectacular development, it must be recognised that the appearance of the masked one indeed had psychologically terrorising value that cannot be trivialised. If the security guards were truly from the claimed sources, why was it necessary to create mystification by introducing a mask, with all the rattling implications?

    Whoever was behind the mask, or even more specifically, behind the idea of the mask, must be considered an enemy of decency. Surely, it is not a civilised conduct to wear or project a face of terror in the society, particularly in the context of a democratic contest for power.

    Against this background, it may be important to look beyond the guard’s actual mask and contemplate the metaphoric mask, which probably covers Omisore’s face.  A power-seeking individual who is not personally repulsed by the very thought of a mask-wearing protector ought to be viewed with suspicion, if not trepidation. It represents a dangerous signal not only about his personality, but also about his values. Such a person deserves to be unmasked; and it is a welcome irony that he has started the process himself by employing a masked robot.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Omisore gives conditions for public debate

    Omisore gives conditions for public debate

    Osun State governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore, has given conditions for accepting an open debate with Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    Aregbesola, during the commissioning of the modern Ayegbaju International Market in Osogbo last Monday, challenged candidates of opposition parties to a debate on the state’s development.

    Omisore, reacting to the challenge in a statement by his Head, Media, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said Aregbesola must first tender his current certificate of mental fitness, if he wants him to participate.

    According to Omisore, tendering the certificate is necessary “because a nongovernmental organisation, Egalitarian Mission for Africa, had a running battle with Governor Aregbesola concerning issues of his health status.”

    He also said the open hatred of Aregbesola towards Omisore might make the PDP disallow him from participating in any debate with the governor unless his security is assured.

     

  • Omisore promises construction of rural roads

    Omisore promises construction of rural roads

    THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the August 9 poll, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has taken his house-to-house campaign to communities in Ife South Local Government Area.

    Omisore promised to ensure speedy construction of roads in the rural communities of the council if elected as governor.

    He also assured the rural communities, including Ifetedo, Garage Olode, Aba Oyinbo and Mefoworade, that he would build standard primary health care centres to address their medical challenges.

    Omisore said: “All forms of difficulties facing all of you would be tackled by my government, which would dwell more on the welfare of the rural inhabitants. I want to assure you that your sufferings and other kind of challenges would be over on August 9.”

    Calling on those who had failed to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to collect it from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Office in Osogbo, Omisore contended that “this is the only weapon that you can use to bring about the needed change in Osun so that poverty, frustration and slavery can be finally stopped.”

    Former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Adejare Bello, has said his emergence as Omisore’s running-mate was “divinely arranged.”

    Speaking with reporters in Osogbo yesterday, Bello said he never schemed for the position.

    He said: “When the lot fell on me to be the running-mate to Senator Iyiola Omisore, I saw it as leverage for me to serve the people at a higher pedestal. My records of service are in the public domain. For me, I see every opportunity to hold a political office as an avenue to better the lots of the average citizen.

    “I spent 12 years in the state House of Assembly. To the glory of Allah, the people of Ede North have no cause to regret having me as their representative. Even as a Speaker, there were times when I would leave my office and personally go in search of employment vacancies for my people.

    “I am from a humble background; so I know what it takes to be at home after education without gainful employment. All these experiences and many more, I hope to bring on board when the people of Osun would have used their votes to enthrone a truly democratic government.”