The Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council in Osun State has alerted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Usman Alkali Baba, of an alleged plan by Governor Ademola Adeleke of the state to use a regional security agency, Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) popularly known as ‘Amotekun’, to rig Saturday presidential and national assembly elections for the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidates in the state.
A source in the state indicated that the Governor Adeleke and the leadership of the PDP have concluded an arrangement to make use of the Amotekun corps to rig the elections by kitting some political thugs in the outfit of the security who will be mobilised to prevent the opposition and their supporters from voting.
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The source further revealed that the government has instructed the newly-employed Field Commander of Amotekun in Osun State, Captain Soji Akanni (rtd), who hails from Ila-Orangun in the Osun Central Senatorial District of the state, to deploy some of the newly-acquired Amotekun-branded vehicles to the PDP candidates.
It was learnt that a branded Amotekun vehicle has been dispatched to an alleged murder suspect, Hon Sanya Omirin, the PDP House of Representatives candidate for Ijesa-South Federal Constituency.
It was reliably gathered that the Amotekun operational van deployed to Omirin would also be used to take care of the interest of Senator Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi, the PDP senatorial candidate for Ife-Ijesa senatorial district of the state and Honourable Wole Oke, the PDP House of Representatives’ candidate for Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency during the elections.
Yet it was revealed that another Amotekun’s operational van has been dispatched to Ila-Orangun to take care of the political interest of Honourable Clement Akanni Olorunwa, the PDP House of Representatives candidate for Ila Federal Constituency while one of the vehicles has been sent to Ifetedo in the Osun-East Senatorial District of the state.
Information also disclosed that one of the Amotekun vehicles is to be stationed in Osogbo, the state capital, for the use of the Field Commander of the corps who would be directed by the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Adeleke, CSP Adekunle Omoyele, who has been working in cahoots with some vestige forces in the state to rig the presidential and house of representatives’ elections in the state.
Commenting on the development, the Chairman of the Media Committee of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council in Osun State, Engr Remi Omowaiye, in a statement issued in Osogbo, the Osun State capital Friday condemned the plan of the Adeleke-led administration to use the Amotekun corps members to rig the presidential election in the state.
Omowaiye querried Adeleke and his co-travellers why they think that it is now legally allowed to use the Amotekun corps members for election when it is on record that their party, the PDP, resisted it in the court of law during the conduct of the July 16, 2022 governorship election in the state?
The Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council spokesman wondered who are those thinking for the PDP and Adeleke.
He tasked the Inspector-General of Police to resist the use of the Amotekun corps members by Adeleke to rig the election as such development is not agreeable to the earlier directive of the police authority that no non-statutory Federal Government security agency would be allowed to be involved in the conduct of the election.
Omowaiye told the Police I-G to direct the police officers and other statutory security agencies in the state to be extra-vigilant and treat any of the Amotekun corps members and Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), found on the day of the elections, as political hoodlums and criminals.
Information also confirmed that Adeleke and the PDP are planning to use fake policemen and fake soldiers to perpetrate violence on the opposition during the Saturday’s elections.
It was also learnt at the time of writing this story that fifteen white Hilux buses filled up with fully-armed political thugs took off from the Black and White Hotels located at Oke-oniti area of Osogbo, to unknown destinations.
But some of the occupants of the buses were suggesting to one another that they should go through the Ring Road in Osogbo.
Omowaiye condemned the militarization of the presidential election by the PDP and Adeleke, stating that it was unnecessary and that it is only God who secures positions for human beings.
Meanwhile, tongues are wagging in some quarters in Osun State that the hoodlums who attempted to assassinate the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, the Right Honourable Timothy Owoeye, about four days ago took off from the Black and White Hotels in Osogbo and returned to the place after the unsuccessful operation.
