Remo By-Election: Ogun Govt Blasts PDP, Says Opposition Party Crying Wolf After Heavy Defeat
The Ogun State Government, on Sunday, described the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a party in disarray that cannot win any election in the state again.
The government was reacting to a statement by the opposition party, alleging rampant violence during the Federal Constituency by-election in Sagamu, Remo North, and Ikenne, and accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Nigerian Police, and the Department of State Services (DSS) of direct assault on the democratic rights of the people.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Media and Strategy, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, the Ogun State Government described the PDP as a party adept at crying wolf, saying that the party, by its dark antecedents of electoral fraud, violence, and suppression of people’s rights, cannot teach Nigerians democratic tenets.
The statement wondered how a party whose chairman was arrested for alleged vote-buying, along with certain corrupt officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), during Saturday’s by-election could accuse others of its stock-in-trade.
It added that PDP’s condemnation of the APC and the security agencies arose from their resistance to its plan to purchase the election and compromise the electoral process, adding that the party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 general election is still, along with certain key officials, in court battling charges of vote-buying, conspiracy, and subversion of the democratic process.
It added: “The Ogun State Government is not surprised that in the face of massive rejection by the people, Ogun PDP sought to rubbish Saturday’s by-election, which was adjudged by fair-minded observers to be free, fair, and credible.
“PDP, a party noted for the serial rape of democracy, election rigging, and gangsterism, has typically cried wolf in Ogun State whenever the people have rejected it and its cash-and-carry campaign. It huffed and puffed during the last general election, vowing to retrieve a non-existent mandate, but was roundly defeated at all levels of the court process.
“A pathetic carcass in Ogun State, PDP has no electoral value, no novel ideas, and no mass appeal, having lost the popularity it once enjoyed through the open betrayal of the people that voted it into office. It is no surprise, then, that in this case, as in others, its press statement lacks reflection and introspection, always accusing others of its electoral woes after fielding unpopular candidates and trying desperately to drag the good people of Ogun State into its mess.
“What Ogun PDP knows best is crying wolf after bringing total chaos into governance and reaping total rejection by a weary populace.
“We believe, firmly, that every suspect enjoys the presumption of innocence, but it is at least instructive to note that it was PDP leaders who were arrested for an alleged vote-buying plot on Saturday, not APC members.
“This is a desperate, sinking party whose former governorship candidate reportedly did not even come out to vote on Saturday, knowing that his party stood no chance. PDP, an anti-democratic platform, cannot teach Nigerians democracy; it bungled the 16-year grace given to it by Nigerians to do so.
“We thank the Ogun people for rejecting PDP on Saturday and urge them to keep rejecting this uncultured party.”
