The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Saturday rejected Governor Ademola Adeleke’s response to allegations that he was sheltering wanted criminals in the Government House.
The party described Adeleke’s response to Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, who during a visit to the Osun State Government House in Osogbo on Friday said he had been informed that the governor was keeping criminals, as “evasive.”
It insisted that some wanted criminals were being sheltered by the governor to shield them from arrest.
The APC, in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Olabisi, said Adeleke’s denial of keeping dangerous criminals in the Government House was an indication that he was running his government with propaganda.
“The response of the governor to this weighty allegation of his keeping some of the daredevil criminals in the Government House was grossly evasive and was at variance with the expected response to the allegation in the estimation of the right-thinking members of the society,” Olabisi said.
“The denial of Governor Adeleke that he has not been keeping dangerous political thugs in the state affirms the fact that he has added another negative feather to his nest of being a dancing governor, to a cursing governor and now a lying governor.
“It is equally worrisome that the embattled Governor Adeleke could have the effrontery to be denying his alliance and association with… on the police wanted list when it is a known fact that some of them were appointed political functionaries of the governor.”
Olabisi also referred to a viral video of a wanted criminal on the police watch list allegedly leading members of his gang into a room in the Government House, and added that there were photographs allegedly showing the governor with political thugs at functions.
“The lowlight of the IGP’s visit was that the handlers of the defunct Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has transformed into the deregistered Accord Party in Osun State need to work on their members on how to behave in public, as it was shamelessly exhibited at the state Police Command,” he said.
However, in a swift reaction, Jamiu Olawumi, the Director of Strategic Communication of the Imole Campaign Council, a body championing the re-election of Governor Adeleke, said the APC had accused the governor of what it did while in government in the state.
Olawumi also said there were police operatives working with Adeleke who would have reported to their superior officers if the allegations by the APC were true.
Reacting further, Olawumi cautioned the APC against making untrue claims, saying the allegations of Adeleke harbouring wanted criminals in the Government House could put the police in a bad light.
“That allegation is spurious and irresponsible and it is another attempt to smear the image of the Nigerian Police Force, which has the responsibility of providing security for the government and the Government House,” he said.
“An average policeman within the Government House is a representative of the Nigerian Police Force and the Inspector-General of Police. In actual fact, they were sent there to maintain order and security.
“So, if you are saying that there is a systemic failure within the police, and police officers were not able to apprehend or spot criminals within the Government House and report back to their superiors who asked them to be there, that is very, very unfortunate.
“However, if you listen to an average APC man, he thinks the way they ran government before Governor Adeleke, in abuse of privileges and opportunities, is what Governor Adeleke is doing by saying that he has no criminals within the premises of the Government House.”
He added that the governor had said no criminal should be spared, even if the person was his biological child, and urged the police to invite APC chieftains for questioning to get to the root of the matter.
“After all, it is the same police that has not been prosecuting those already arrested for crimes in Osun State, especially those that have to do with APC. So what the APC has done is just hallucination and irresponsible, trying to get the sympathy of the public that is already against them because of what they do,” Olawumi said.
The visiting IG had told Adeleke that from the briefing available to him, wanted criminals were being sheltered in the Government House.
Adeleke, in response, told the police to go after all suspected criminals in the state, even if such persons were his relatives.
