Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said on Sunday that it has uncovered a plot by elements of the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to launch a campaign of calumny against the person and the administration of incumbent Governor Seyi Makinde.
The PDP, in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Engineer Akeem Olatunji, declared that the alarm has become necessary in view of the enormity of the planned negative campaign.
According to Oyo PDP, some actors in the immediate past administration in Oyo State have been linked to a massive campaign of calumny against the governor of the state, Engr. Seyi Makinde and the State Government.
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“The disingenuous campaign is aimed at discrediting the push for probity and accountability in the state, something we know is against the fullness of the aspirations of the people of Oyo state, who on March 9, overwhelmingly invested their mandate on Engineer Seyi Makinde as Governor,” the PDP said.
The statement also indicated that the said APC elements and their paid agents had perfected plans to rubbish the efforts of the Makinde government and especially distract it from uncovering the humongous mismanagement of the state’s resources and the general maladministration under the immediate past administration in the state.
“Details of the plot already uncovered via credible intelligence will include several coordinated articles by paid media agents and faceless writers, some of whom we have started seeing their hands.
“The plot is aimed at downplaying the serial evidence pointing at monumental maladministration in Oyo state in the last eight years as well as hoodwinking the people into believing that Engineer Seyi Makinde is crying wolf where there is none.
“We, however, assure our people that the new Governor in Oyo State is a man of his words. He will not engage in lazy propaganda which is the hallmarks of our opponents. He will surely lift Oyo state from the debt-ridden and bankrupt state the APC had left it. The Governor will, however, not shy away from saying it as it is, because the mismanaged resources we are talking about belong to the good people of Oyo State.”
The statement further added: “We will want to know why the case of Oyo state is different when it comes to probity and accountability. When did it become a crime for a Governor to give situation report of a State he just took over? We recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, who has vowed to fight corruption, spent months giving details of what he met on ground in Abuja in 2015.
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“Why would a Governor who inherited a N150 billion debt not cry foul in a state like Oyo? Why would a Governor who has uncovered records of how over N60 billion went into private pockets not open the lid? Why would Governor Makinde not expose those who left over N70 billion pension debts in the state? And why would the state government keep quiet when some officials of government shared property and vehicles belonging to the state without paying a kobo to the state’s coffers?”
“We, however, want to assure the people that the campaign of calumny will fail because our people have seen through it all. Our people have seen that the negative campaign is being orchestrated at the behest of those who are afraid of their shadows. They will continue to stand by the PDP and the Government of Engineer Seyi Makinde.
“As the ruling party in the state, the PDP hereby warns the people of the state to be watchful so as not to fall for the deceit and chicanery that are hallmarks of the purveyours of falsehood and deceit who are only bent on distracting the new government in Oyo state.”
Signed:
Engr. Akeem Olatunji
State Publicity Secretary, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Oyo State.
July 14, 2019.