The All Progressives Congress, APC, has reacted to the statement made by the spokesperson of the Department of State Security – DSS, on the conduct of Osun governorship election.
The party, in a press release on Thursday by its Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed said Ms Ogar’s statements were unprofessional and irresponsible and represents the opinion of the PDP.
Mohammed wondered why the DSS Spokesperson would describe his movement on the night he was arrested in Osogbo as “loitering’‘ when as a citizen of Nigeria, he has the freedom to move around.
The party went further to ask why the DSS did not arrest some other key PDP chieftains who were in Osun and are not indigenes of the state.
It described as tissue of lies the allegation by Ms. Ogar that the party tried to bribe the DSS with 14 million Naira before the Osun election, wondering why the DSS did not arrest the official who offered the alleged bribe.
“Apparently, Ms. Ogar has never head of a ‘sting operation’ that is widely used by security agencies to catch a person who is committing a crime. The allegation by Ms. Ogar would have been sweet in her mouth had the DSS mounted a sting operation to catch whoever was offering the alleged bribe, and then prosecute him or her,” the party said, calling the allegation cheap blackmail by a conspiratorial
organization.
Commenting on the deployment of security for election, Mohammed said that “ election is not war, but a celebration of democracy, hence DSS agents should drop their hoods and hide away their menacing guns when next they are posted to police an election anywhere in the country”.
”Was it not publicly announced that the APC was moving its headquarters to Osun to give support for Gov. Rauf Aregbesola? Why didn’t Ms. Ogar question the presence of President Goodluck Jonathan or Vice President Namadi Sambo in Osun when they came too, if she was being fair? It is sad that Ms. Ogar has turned herself to the spokesperson of the PDP by echoing what that party has said on the Osun election. This is unprofessional and irresponsible,” the apc said.
APC said by spearheading the mass arrest of its leaders and members in Osun before and during the August 9th governorship election in the state, and by preventing the rally planned by the NLC in support of Gov. Aregbesola from holding, the DSS has decided to pitch its tent with the PDP instead of staying neutral.
The party said the questions to ask Ms. Ogar are: ”How many PDP leaders were arrested in Osun? If the rally by the NLC had been planned in support of the PDP candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, would the DSS have aborted it? Why must the DSS send hooded gunmen to police an election that is a civic matter? Does Ms.Ogar bother to read and understand the Nigerian constitution to know the rights of the citizens?”
APC said it is important to educate the likes of Ogar, and indeed the entire DSS, that election is not war, but a celebration of democracy, hence DSS agents should drop their hoods and hide away their menacing guns when next they are posted to police an election anywhere in the country.
