Jonathan: Osun Election'll Be Well Policed

By The Rainbow
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Jonathan: Osun Election’ll Be Well Policed

L -R , OSUN STATE  PDP DEPUTY GOVERNOR . CANDIDATE , MR. ADEJARE BELLO ; PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN ; PDP GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE FOR OSUN  ,SENATOR IYIOLA OMISORE AND PDP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN,ALHAJI  ADAMU  MAUZU AT THE OSUN STATE GOVERNORSHIP RALLY FOR OMISORE IN OSOGBO  ON SATURDAY

PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI
APC: PDP Has No Agenda for Our State
By Yinka Kolawole
President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday in Osogbo that there would be no going back on the decision of the federal government to massively police the governorship election coming up in Osun State next Saturday.

Jonathan spoke during the governorship election campaign rally for the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Senator Iyola Omisore. The president, who was, apparently, reacting to the loud criticism that greeted the vast security and military deployment for the Ekiti State governorship election in June, also urged the people of Osun State to vote massively for Omisore.

But the ruling All Progressives Congress in Osun State mocked the PDP rally as a confirmation that the ruling party at the national level has no agenda for the development of the state. The Bureau of Communications and Strategy in the office of the Osun State governor said PDP had after the grand finale of its governorship election campaign left the people bewildered at its lack of ideas and strategy for development.

The militarisation of Ekiti State during the governorship election is the principal objection of APC in its petition against the poll at the electoral court.

However, addressing crowds of PDP supporters at the Osogbo City Stadium, Jonathan said nothing will stop the heavy deployment of security agents in Osun State for the August 9 governorship election. He said the deployment was targeted at the security of the lives and property of residents during the election. The president said this was in view of the bloody violence that followed the 2011 presidential election in some parts of the country.

The president warned that anyone that tried to foment trouble before, during, or after next Saturday's election in Osun State will face the wrath of the law. He urged the Osun State electorate to vote for the PDP candidate, saying, “We will develop Osun State with Omisore. We need your cooperation to be able to do this. Vote for Omisore and leave the transformation agenda for the presidency to handle.” The president said with the Osun election Nigerians will tell the world that they can conduct credible elections.

Responding, Omisore commended the PDP national leadership for their support and promised to work for the development of the state. He alleged that APC had misgoverned the state, saying PDP is out to salvage the state from total collapse.

Some of the dignitaries at the event included Vice President Namadi Sambo, PDP national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, chairman of the party's Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, Ekiti State governor-elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, and chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, Mr. Olajide Adeniji.

But APC in Osun State swiftly accused PDP of merely trying to take the state backward. Director of the Bureau of Communications and Strategy in the office of the governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said in a release yesterday that the PDP campaign rally was bereft of any categorical statement on what the party had in stock for the people or intended to do differently.

“Campaign is basically and primarily meant to intimate the electorate with a political party's manifesto and what the party intends to do differently by seeking to take power,” Okanlawon stated, stressing, “What we saw of the PDP mega rally yesterday was an open demonstration of emptiness, indeed, a very empty gathering meant to insult the sensibilities of the people of Osun.

“It is by this degree saddening that President Goodluck Jonathan did not tell Osun people what the federal government has in stock for the state. More saddening was even the emptiness demonstrated by the party's standard bearer, Iyiola Omisore, who did not list one programme he plans to implement in the state.

“There is no issue-based campaign. PDP or Omisore did not highlight what was wrong in education, health, agriculture, welfare, security, youth and infrastructure development programmes and policies of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

“Does it not confound reasoning and send a very dangerous signal to our people that PDP is merely out to hijack power and corner the resources of the state to better the lot of members of the cabal.”

Okanlawon advised the people to make a wise choice by casting their votes for the continuity of Aregbesola's government to guarantee the unbroken progress and development of the state.

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