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Tag: Kunle Oyatomi

  • Osun LG polls: Come out to vote en mass, APC to electorate

    Osun LG polls: Come out to vote en mass, APC to electorate

    The All Progressives Congress ( APC ) in Osun State of has charged the people of the state to come out en masse on Saturday to vote for its candidates in the local government election.

    The party advised the people, particularly the APC supporters to ensure those they prefer to elect to be in charge of their local governments have their votes because “it is a responsibility they should not take lightly.”

    According to the statement by its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi “Participation in local government election is as important as any other election in the country, and for locals, it should perhaps be more important for residents of the locality because it is their closest interaction with governance through which they can be heard.

    “Since it is official from the state electoral commission that the election is holding on Saturday, and since no other agency is authorised by law to do so, it is imperative that voters turn up for the election. 
    ‘Nobody should allow himself/herself  to be deceived that there will be no voting on that day. Anyone who says so will be attempting to fool you; so you have to come out and vote for your choice of candidate 

    “Any party that is not participating in the election may be doing so either out of ignorance or fear of possible disgraceful failure at the polls or both. However, the APC already has 280 of its candidates returned unopposed out of the 389 wards; but that’s not a reason to take victory for granted in the remaining 109 wards up for grabs. Go out on Saturday and register a decisive victory by voting for the APC from the rest of the contest.

    “The local government election will give a vivid indication of what the governorship contest of September will be. The APC expects no less than a resounding victory.
    ‘As you read this, ‘the party continued, the PDP, which is the most vitriolic opposition party we have in Osun, is so disorganised that its centre cannot hold.

    “Besides, all efforts to patch the factions together have repeatedly failed; which is an indication that the party is incapable of governing. They are falling apart even before the people of Osun show them the red card for the fourth time. The first time the PDP got the red card was in 2003, (but it took the court’s intervention in 2010 to stop PDP from stealing victory). 

    “The second time was just under a year that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola came to power in 2011. That was when Sen. Iyiola Omisore and others were removed from the National Assembly. The third humiliation of Omisore and the PDP was in 2014 when in spite of the massive deployment of Federal might in the ex-Senator’s favour, he lost the governorship election woefully.

    “The fourth time will be a double on Saturday and in September 2018 that crushing defeats in both the council and governorship elections will nail the coffins of the PDP once and for all. That will be the crowning glory for a brilliant patriot of Osun origin who has so robustly fought a monstrosity called PDP from stopping progress in Osun. God bless Ogbeni.”

  • Angry youths attack NTA team at Adeleke’s residence

    Angry youths attack NTA team at Adeleke’s residence

    Angry youths at the residence of the  late Sen. Isiaka Adeleke in Ede  on Sunday attacked Mr Tope Alabi, a  correspondent of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in  Osogbo.

    Adeleke  died in the early hours of Sunday at a private hospital in Osogbo after succumbing to a protracted ailment.

    The late politician popularly called “ Serubawon’’ was aged 62.

    The  NTA reporter, who was  at the residence of the late politician with his cameraman, was attacked by the youths for recording  the  faces of   sympathisers.

    The youths,  who alleged that  the  late senator was poisoned, opposed  video coverage of the event.

    Alabi was assaulted  on the  head  and had to be taken to  Osogbo for treatment while his cameraman escaped to a nearby bush.

    Security  had, however,  been beefed up at the  residence  as family members  and friends awaited  the  burial of the late politician.

    An Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was stationed very close to Adeleke’s house  while a  police  vehicle was sighted  patrolling the town.

    A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent at  the  residence reports that the corpse of the late senator  was brought to his residence in Ede  at about 1:10pm  from Biket hospital in Osogbo.

    It  was, however,   later taken  to Ladoke Akintola Teaching hospital in Osogbo for autopsy as   family members  insisted on ascertaining the cause of death.

    As  at the time of filing this report, no family member  was willing to speak with  newsmen.

    Meanwhile, the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives  Congress (APC) in Osun,  Mr Kunle Oyatomi, has expressed shock over Adeleke’s death.

    Oyatomi , in a telephone interview with NAN   on Sunday in Osogbo, said the late senator would be greatly missed.

    He described Adeleke as one of the best governors  the state ever had, adding that  he was greatly loved by all.

  • Osun APC mourns Isiaka Adeleke

    Osun APC mourns Isiaka Adeleke

    The Osun chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), has described the death of Sen. Isiaka Adeleke as a great blow to the party.

    Adeleke, a sitting senator and former governor of Osun died in the early hours of April 23.

    Mr Kunle Oyatomi, the party’s Publicity Secretary, spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Osogbo, said the shock was impossible to overcome.

    Oyatomi recalls that the late senator was the first civilian governor of Osun and a two-term senator.

    He said that Adeleke was still vibrant until April 22 night, before his sudden death on the early hours of April 23.

    According to him, the party is momentarily shaken and short of words to respond to this tragic event appropriately.

    “We advise supporters, friends and family members to summon courage and mourn this fallen hero of Nigerian politics.’’

    Oyatomi, however, called on all citizens of the state irrespective of their political affiliation to show solidarity and empathy with the deceased family.

  • OAU attack, sign of disaffection, says Osun APC

    OAU attack, sign of disaffection, says Osun APC

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State believes Friday’s protest by the students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife during President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the campus should “demonstrate to him clearly that Nigerians do not appreciate his style of governance and the consequences thereof.”

    The party, in a statement in Osogbo by its Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Barr. Kunle Oyatomi, said the action of the students in booing him and Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, during the Yoruba Summit on the campus “is a clear evidence that the PDP is not only unpopular but it is despised in the whole of Yorubaland.”

    It dismissed Yoruba leaders in the PDP as renegades, adding: “there is no way the good people of Yorubaland will support them.

    “That was why Iyiola Omisore, the PDP’s governorship candidate, also lost the August 9 election in the State.

    “Yoruba nation will not support the PDP because the party has negated all the aspirations of Yoruba nation in Nigeria.

    “Increasingly, the Jonathan-led PDP is becoming associatedý with varying degrees of violence and intimidation.

    “While he brought his security operatives to disturb the peace in Ile Ife, Boko Haram was causing mayhem in Kano, and there were no security people on hand to stop them.

    “Nigeria cannot afford to continue with this chaos,” the APC said.

  • Omisore can’t win at tribunal, Osun APC declares

    Omisore can’t win at tribunal, Osun APC declares

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State yesterday dismissed as a pipe dream, a statement by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in the state, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, that the party’s candidate in the August 9 election, Otunba  Iyiola Omisore, would win at the tribunal.

    Babatope had told a rally in Ibadan organised by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) to drum up support for the re-election of the president that the election petitions tribunal would overturn the re-election of Governor Rauf Aregbeola in favour of Omisore.

    But in a statement in Osogbo, the APC Director of Publicity, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said Babatope was merely engaging in a face saving stunt.

    He said: “Chief Babatope has the right to his optimism. However, we at the APC know that this is just a mere dream that can never come to reality. Has Babatope forgotten that almost all the PDP leaders could not even win in the polling units where they voted?

    “It is therefore unthinkable that PDP would ever nurse the hope that anything would come out of its fruitless journey to the tribunal. Indeed, we are convinced that at the end of the day, PDP will find out to its utter disappointment that a huge chunk of votes allocated to its candidate will be declared to have been in error.

    “Under a clean election without any arm-twisting tactics and harassment of APC members and its leaders, how could the PDP have garnered such number of votes credited to it? The people of the South West have rejected in its entirety anything PDP. The August 9 election was what the PDP leaders needed to confirm the extent of its rejection in Nigeria as a whole and in Osun in particular.”

     

  • APC alleges murder plot against Aregbesola

    APC alleges murder plot against Aregbesola

    •I can’t wish him dead, says Omisore

    OSUN State All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to use Israeli snipers to assassinate Governor Rauf Aregbesola during his campaign rally.

    The party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi,  accused two chieftains of PDP as the masterminds of the plot.

    The APC urged the Israeli Embassy to check on its citizens, who might have been contracted “to nip the evil in the bud” before the Middle East country gets itself negatively involved in an explosive situation in Nigeria that could affect relationship between the two countries.”

    It also called on elders not to fold their arms and watch the PDP set Nigeria ablaze, since, according to APC, “that is what assassination of Aregbesola would spontaneously cause.”

    The APC said PDP sources informed it that “there is great consternation within the party that for as long as Aregbesola is present and visible, there is no way the PDP can rig the election. So, their last option to ‘win’, according to sources, is to take out completely the governor.

    The APC recalled that it had alerted Nigerians and the international community to PDP’s plans to militarise the state one week to the election and terrorise the APC leadership and assassinate some of them.

    “We also alerted the nation that the PDP has brought into Osun, fake police and army uniforms which their thugs will use to terrorise voters at polling units and possibly snatch ballot boxes.”

    Also yesterday, the APC said that “lying is a trademark of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from top to bottom.”

    The party was reacting to a statement credited to PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, that “while its candidate and members had been campaigning and seeking the support of the people, the APC had been engaging in political gallivanting, rigmarole and ineffective propaganda…”

    But, in a reaction to the alleged murder plot, the governorship candidate of the PDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has denied the allegation.

    Omisore, who spoke through his Director of Media, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said he would not want Aregbesola dead, but alive to congratulate him after he might have defeated him at the poll.

    Omisore said he was sad that what pre-occupied Aregbesola and APC were not serious issues, but allegations.

    He advised the APC and Aregbesola to focus on development issues instead of “unsubstantiated” allegations.

     

  • ‘Opposition planning to implicate Adeleke’

    ‘Opposition planning to implicate Adeleke’

    •PDP: No plot against anybody

    THE All Progressives Congress in Osun State has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of planning to implicate the state’s first civilian Governor, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, by hiding criminal objects in and around his Ede country home.

    According to a statement by the party’s spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, the APC got the information of the “evil plot from usually reliable sources within the PDP.”

    He said the plan was meant to create an excuse for security operatives from Abuja to come and arrest the APC leader and whisk him away.

    “The plan is to replace their aborted attempt to assassinate Adeleke. There is no guaranty that the man may not be assassinated after his arrest. Our source is very reliable. Nothing that had been exposed in the past through the sources was found to be false.

    “We accused them of going about buying people’s voter cards, in order to manipulate the electoral process. Already, we have evidence of over 2,000 people, real people whose cards are in the PDP’s  possession with their names, addresses and telephone numbers.

    “We accused the PDP of planning to destroy Aregbesola’s projects if it came to power. Omisore went to campaign in Ejigbo and promised to turn the best of Aregbesola’s schools built so far into a poultry. Within a couple of days of that statement, a huge explosion went off at the assembly hall of the school and brought it down,” he said.

    The APC added that its allegations against the PDP were based on credible information.

    It urged the citizenry to take seriously its allegation that “the PDP intends to frame Adeleke in order to get security people from Abuja to come and take him out of circulation.”

    The PDP, through its Director of Publicity, Mr. Bola Ajao, has denied the allegation, saying “only the guilty are afraid.”

    The party spokesperson said the PDP has no business plotting or planning to incriminate anybody.

    He said as far as the PDP is concerned, Adeleke is of no political value, maintaining that the major pre-occupation of the party was how to make its governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, emerge the winner of the August 9 election.

    He said: “Whatever the APC is alleging is its own cup of tea. We are not interested in any allegation. Our principal interest lies in how to win the forthcoming election. Let the guilty be afraid, we are less concerned.”

     

    END

     

  • APC seeks probe of suspected thugs for alleged threat to peace

    APC seeks probe of suspected thugs for alleged threat to peace

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State chapter, has alerted security agents to an alleged threat to peace by some suspected thugs who were destroying posters and billboards of  its governorship candidate, Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    It said the thugs were increasingly becoming a threat to peace as the August 9 governorship poll approaches.

    According to a statement by its Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, information at the party’s disposal from Ilesha showed “senseless act of vandalism by the thugs, who were on rampage, ripping posters and destroying billboards of the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    “We like to believe that these vandals are acting purely out of criminal disposition; which is why we are bringing this incident to the notice of all security apparatus in the state, so that something should be done quickly before a wrong message permeates society that the vandals are protected.

    “Pulling down billboards and ripping off posters of political opponents are not part of democracy or law and orders. The people are now wondering what kind of security cover these thugs have to operate as they do.

    “These thugs endanger law and order and give the impression of a reign of lawlessness in spite of security agencies. This is a potential tragedy that law enforcement agencies should not tolerate. The thugs must be called to order; but if they persist in their crime, then they must be brought to justice.”

    The party, therefore, appealed to the security agencies to act fast before there is break down of law and order.

     

  • Osun APC lauds delegates

    Osun APC lauds delegates

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State yesterday congratulated the national leaders and delegates to the party’s convention in Abuja for the “maturity and skill they displayed in making the convention a success.”

    In a statement by its Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, the party said, “With this success, the party’s internal democratic process has gained a firm foothold, and the leadership consensus building approach to solving difficult issues has also matured significantly.”

    He said that opponents and detractors of APC who had wished and predicted failure of the convention would “at least now bow their heads in disappointment.”

    The party added: “Having scaled the hurdle of putting together a formidable National Executive for the party, led by the former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, the task ahead now is to marshal a plan to replace the failed PDP through a democratic process.”

     

  • APC inaugurates Aregbesola campaign committee

    APC inaugurates Aregbesola campaign committee

    A 20-man state campaign committee to coordinate the re-election of the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has been inaugurated.

    The Senator representing Osun Central Senatorial District, Prof. Sola Adeyeye, is the Chairman of the committee.

    In a statement issued by the Director, Information and Strategy of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi, the committee’s Secretary is Prof. John Adebunmi Ayoade, a former Deputy Director, Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS).

    The task of the committee is to coordinate to the campaign exercise across the state, the statement said.

    Oyatomi said that other members of the committee christened Rauf Aregbesola State Campaign Committee 2014, include Senator Bayo Salami, Speaker of the Osun House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam; Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; Chief of Staff to Gov. Aregbesola, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola and Dr. Peter Babalola.

    The committee also comprises three state commissioners and five members of the House of Assembly.

    According to the statement, the commissioners are that of Finance, Budget and Planning, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro; Information, Sunday Akere and Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Barrister Kolapo Alimi.

    The lawmakers include Bamisayemi Oladoyin, Timothy Owoeye, Femi Kujenbola, Akinloye Ajibola and Alagbada Isiak.

    Others in the committee are Hon. Biyi Odunlade, Comrade Poju Odusola, Obawale Adebisi, Alhaji Sule Alao, Mr. Bosun Oyintiloye.