The Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that Governor Seyi Makinde and the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are up for a landslide defeat in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
The state opposition party said the incumbent governor cannot get votes from serious-minded people in the coming election following his poor governance.
reports that APC made the statement in reaction to a report which claimed that one Alhaji Bashir Adeola, purportedly an APC chieftain, spoke against the credibility of the party in favour of PDP.
In a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday through its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, APC alleged that PDP was behind the fake report accredited to Adeola, who it described as a non-existing character.
According to Sadare, the name ‘Bashir Adeola’ was a fictitious name and the said comment credited to him was the “handiwork of some desperados in power who had been overwhelmed by the political fireworks of Oyo APC as demonstrated in the last few months.”
The APC spokesman said the party had painstakingly checked its party membership register and found no member by the name ‘Bashiru Adeola’.
He said: “We, then wonder where the PDP media got the ghost to speak with them as a chieftain of Oyo APC.”
Sadare said that no amount of such sponsored fake news, as well as unsubstantiated claims against the opposition, would stop Governor Makinde and PDP from defeat in the forthcoming general elections.
According to him, some funny characters around the governor felt that “this was the best way to mitigate the effects of political affliction befalling their administration and party every day”.
Sadare said that PDP felt it was an unhealthy development to keep losing its members and supporters to the opposition. He said that Makinde has nobody to blame for the development, adding he could not eat his cake and have it.
The statement added: “A governor who neither does well with governance nor runs an all-inclusive government cannot have the trust of serious politicians and voters.
They package their usual lies and put fictitious names as the source, whereas the so-called Bashir Adeola was without a known Ward, Local Government Area or traceable residence or office address.
“They came up with the latest spurious story aimed at discrediting APC in an attempt to water down the adverse effect of Hon. Olusegun Olaleye’s defection to the APC.”
Sadare said further that Olaleye had only retraced his step as he returned to the progressive fold a few days after hundreds of PDP leaders and members left the party for APC in Oyo Federal Constituency.
He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we do not have any member or chieftain who bears the name mentioned and it is safe to say that the story was sponsored by the PDP to mislead the public.
We are focused on our electioneering campaigns as a serious political party whose candidates have all it takes to win the forthcoming elections in the state.”
Sadare thereby urged the electorate to remain focus and disregard fake news being spread out by the ruling party ahead of the 2023 elections.
