By Richard Akintade, Osogbo
Ahead of July 16 governorship election in Osun State, governorship candidate of the People’s Democracy Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke has boasted that he will use foreign currencies like Dollars, Pounds and Euros to win the gubernatorial election in the state.
He described people of Osun are poor and in abject poverty, and as a candidate who comes from a rich family, there is more than enough money in hard currencies for the people of Osun to win the forthcoming gubernatorial election at all cost.
According to him, “as you all know, I am from a very rich family, we have more than enough money, and I believed that Osun voters would not be worth more than 20 dollars to buy their votes for us to be convincingly win the election”, said Adeleke.
Senator Adeleke said this recently in a video clip that has gone viral, noting that the July 16 governorship election in Osun is “fire-for-fire”, adding that “if it is money, he has brought more than enough hard currencies of different denominations to enable PDP win the election by all means.”
In a swift reaction from Osun APC’s Directorate of Publicity, Research and Strategy, its Director, Kunle Oyatomi in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday in Osogbo, the state capital, explained that it is absurd for a PDP factional candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke to be boasting around of illegal use of money to buy votes to win election in Osun, adding that Osun is not for sale and will never again allow PDP treasury looters in the state.
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state said that the PDP will be disgraced and smashed in the July 16 governorship election as the people of Osun are not ready to sell their birthrights to kleptomania PDP no matter how wealthy they may be.
The party said Osun PDP will be taught a lifetime lessons by Osun electorate that they are neither poor nor ready to sell their votes to anyone, adding that the notion that a voter in Osun doesn’t worth more than 20 dollars is an embarrassment of highest order and it is an insult to Yoruba race, noting that Ademola is rubbing salt upon the PDP’s already known injuries.
Osun APC reminded electorate in the state that the same tactics was used by the PDP in 2018 and despite that, the opposition PDP was injuriously disgraced, urging entire people of Osun to repeat same as they did in 2018 to show that truly, Osun voters will never sell their birthrights to the “Akotiletas”.
The party also enjoined Osun electorate to support and vote for the APC in all elections so that Progressive developmental projects in all nooks and crannies of the state would not be seized to be experienced by all and sundry in Osun.
Meanwhile, the Adegboyega Oyetola Campaign Council in their own response described as absurd, unthinkable and totally unacceptable the boast by the PDP, governorship candidate, Senator Adeleke that he had acquired enough money in hard currencies to buy Osun and its people for the July 16 governorship contest.
In a statement signed by its Director-General, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, the Campaign Council declared that Osun was not for sale to the highest bidder, just as it noted that on daily basis, the PDP candidate is proving to the Osun electorate that he had nothing to offer.
The Oyetola Campaign Council said: “Osun people are not gullible. We have left them in no doubt of the quality our party, the APC and our Administration are made of, including the capacity of our candidate to deliver in the past three and half years. We have proved through our inclusive governance strategy that our people are our strength and that we do not take them for granted and we will never take them for granted. This explains why in spite of the way the 2018 election went, our administration began infrastructure intervention from Ede, the hometown of the PDP candidate.
“Osun people are enlightened, they Know that the State and its citizens are not up for sale to the highest bidder. Therefore, the PDP candidate should keep his money. Or better still, he could deploy those resources to establish industries to provide jobs for the people. This way, he will also be supporting the present Administration’s noticeable efforts in the last three and half years to industrialise the State and change its narrative as a Civil Service State, to one bubbling with economic activities.
“It is on record that the Oyetola-led administration has since inception taken concrete steps to open up the State for investments, and has been able to attract a number of investments into Osun, contributing to the economic growth of the State.
“We assure the PDP candidate that, like the administration did to other players in the private sector, we will provide a level playing ground for his business to thrive and ensure Osun and its people derive maximum benefit from the investment.
The Campaign Council also cautioned Adeleke against overheating the polity with his incendiary comments and violent tendencies, wondering what he meant by saying ‘it’s fire for fire this time around’.
“As a responsible party, we urge Senator Adeleke and his party to embrace peaceful conduct and decorum in their political engagements and electioneering. We must avoid any comment or action that can jeopardise the peace and stability of our State,” the statement added.
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