OSOGBO—THE Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Osun State, yesterday, said that the alleged threat by former chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore, to "attack, stop and disarm" Governor Rauf Aregbesola's convoy was desperation gone berserk.
It advised Omisore not to toy with the explosive idea.
ACN, in a statement, cautioned the former deputy governor of the state against the idea, contending that it had the irreversible potential to blow up on Omisore's face and cause national mayhem.
The party called on President Goodluck Jonathan and other national officers of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to call Omisore to order in the interest of national peace and coherence.
Reacting to report quoting Omisore as saying he would attack "Aregbesola's convoy if he continues with the use of Tawun," ACN's Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, in the state, Kunle Oyatomi, a lawyer, said: "Such act would be treated as an assassination attempt by a criminal miscreant and will be decisively terminated by security forces."
ACN said: "We call on all lovers of peace in the country to advise Omisore and his cohorts against this act of desperation, first in his own interest and in the interest of peace and survival of democracy in the country.
"If PDP in the South-West even has a private army, it will be suicidal to use that illegal army against the chief security officer and chief executive of a state, which is a federating unit in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
"When did it become the responsibility of Senator Omisore to determine who constitutes the security convoy of the governor? Is he now the National Security Adviser? Or has he been replaced with the Inspector-General of Police or the Director of State Security Service."
"In a civilised clime, Omisore should have been placed under security surveillance and prosecuted for plotting criminal assault against a sitting governor of a state. That is what we call on the state security services to do immediately; otherwise they will stand accused of complicity in Omisore's criminal attempt. The President should be aware that chieftains of his party are plotting anarchy in the South-West."
The statement recalled that the National Vice- Chairman (South-West) of PDP, Segun Oni, had last month declared that PDP would make Osun State ungovernable for Aregbesola and ACN, a declaration which he said was followed by a "dubious security report which accused the governor of plotting secession against the Nigerian state. Now, Omisore is threatening physical assault on Aregbesola."
"These are not just mere coincidences. They have the hallmarks of strategic planning of criminal nature. President Jonathan, who is a national leader of PDP, has a responsibility to protect the citizens of this country against criminals, assassins and political thugs who are driven by desperation to create mayhem like the one being plotted against Aregbesola by PDP and its chieftains in the South-West."
Vanguard Nigeria