By Kemisola Abdul-Azeez, Abeokuta
The Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its defeated governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, to “apologise publicly for all their political shenanigans against the governor, government and people of Ogun State”.
Reacting to the publicised congratulatory message purportedly issued by the PDP to APC on the heels of last Friday Supreme Court verdict that affirmed the election of Prince Dapo Abiodun as duly elected governor of Ogun State, which put any doubt or controversy on the governorship election to rest, the APC in a statement by its spokesman, Tunde Oladunjoye, on Monday in Abeokuta, described the said PDP message of congratulation as “hearsay”.
Oladunjoye said: “We read the message just like any other person or party, we saw it as hearsay. You know nothing is beyond the Ogun PDP, they can still deny authorship of the statement as they have done in the past. They had also said in the past that the olive branch extended to them by the peace-loving Governor Abiodun was an insult. Our party is yet to be formally communicated to and PDP’s defeated and loquacious candidate, Ladi Adebutu, is yet to put a call through to our victorious governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.”
The statement recalled that, the defeated deputy governorship candidate of the PDP, Adekunle Abdulkabir Akinlade, who contested on the platform of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) against Prince Dapo Abiodun and APC in the 2019 gubernatorial election, was the only candidate that failed to congratulate Prince Dapo Abiodun till date.
“Akinlade pursued his vainglorious governorship ambition desperately from the Tribunal in Abeokuta to the Court of Appeal in Ibadan and finally to the Supreme Court in Abuja and our party and candidate won unanimously at every stage of their perennial litigation. Even after the judgement of the Supreme Court, till date, Akinlade has not congratulated Prince Dapo Abiodun.
“If the disembodied PDP is genuinely desirous of congratulating our party and candidate, we believe that a party like the PDP, that touts itself as leading opposition party not only in Ogun State but also in Nigeria, needs not to be tutored on the proper route to take and the impression to make on its defeated candidate to make the call to our victorious candidate and governor. We cannot receive such message from the ‘airwaves’.
“If and when the party and its candidate formally felicitate our party and governor, we will then be sure about it. We are magnanimous in victory. We will only ask the party and its serial contestant, to apologise to the people, government and the Governor of Ogun State for all the childish attacks, libellous statements, insults and decorated falsehood perpetrated against Governor Dapo Abiodun, all in the name of politicking and electioneering. Ladi Adebutu, under the spur of God-knows-what, insulted almost everybody, the governor especially; even traditional rulers, our reverred royal fathers from Yewa land, were not spared. So, a flying message of congratulations will not address all that. The man should be bold enough to apologise publicly and rescind all the unprintable name-callings by himself, his party and their led-by-the-nose, cheeky, supporters.
“Politics is not an excuse for unfounded allegations, libellous statements and unbridled insults on leaders and our revered traditional rulers. In political combats, there is a level you must not descend to, no matter your frustration or dampened hope. We must not fight like a pig in the gutter, because only God enthrones, and you cannot force yourself on the people. In anyway, the Ogun people have demonstrated at the polls that the seat of the governor of the Gateway state was not for sale and will never be for sale. It is beyond gambling.
“On the hints of possible contest in 2027, we advise Ladi Adebutu to first address the allegations of money laundering and vote-buying hanging on his neck and take a deserved rest. He should take time to look after his health, which he claimed took him on medical vacation abroad for about eight months. Health is wealth; Adebutu should take proper diagnosis and treatment of his undisclosed ailments. We wish him good health and advise that he should place premium on solving his health challenges. It is only God and the people of Ogun State that will determine the governor of Ogun State in 2027. It is too early for Ladi Adebutu to embark on another visionless voyage of political misadventure. Man shall not live by contesting elections all the time.
"Finally, we must thank the people of Ogun State for voting for our party and candidate; for keeping faith with us all through the months of distractions by the unpopular rabble rousers," the party concluded.
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