Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan
A member of the Oyo State Advisory Council, Mr. Michael Lana, has berated the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, for accusing Governor Seyi Makinde of making an irresponsible statement.
Makinde had, at the opposition political parties National Summit held in Ibadan on Saturday, warned of ‘Operation wetie’, a violent political crisis in Western Nigeria between 1962 and 1965, should the country descend into a one-party state.
But Lana, in a statement he personally signed on Sunday, said rather than blaming Makinde for what he said Basiru and his ilks should have checked the inciting actions of his party and President Bola Tinubu and juxtapose them with what he termed, the mere advice of the governor given timeously to avoid a repeat of what happened in the First Republic.
According to him, if Basiru had done that he would have known that the APC had been inciting Nigerians especially in the political field with its actions in its attempt to have a one-party state with its president as the only candidate in the 2027 general election.
The former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State disclosed that this is the first time in the history of the country where a party will have over 30 governors, not voted for in that party but coerced by the ruling party thereby leaving Nigerians who voted for different parties stranded.
He stated further that this is also the first time that all organs of state are captured by a party and being used to destabilize opposition, noting that this is the first time in the history of Nigeria that a government will amend the Electoral Act for its own benefit but against the interest of Nigerians and appoint an electoral umpire right from its flanks whose credibility is flawed with each attempt to cover his tracks.
Lana insisted that these are inciting actions that Bashiru should warn against, adding that they portend high risk of danger and are more dangerous to what happened during “operation wetie.”
He said: “When Nigerians are pushed to the wall and without any hope or solution because all apparatus that would redress these failings have been captured by the state, they will have no choice than to resort to violence.”
He maintained that it is highly commendable that we have a governor such as Makinde to remind Nigerians and those in government to have a rethink before such events happen, adding that it is people like Bashiru who will see him as an enemy and continue to prod the president on until the worst happens.
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