Ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress have continued to trade blames on the security situation in Oyo State.
Main opposition APC had in statement told the people of the state to hold Governor Seyi Makinde accountable for the spate of killings and kidnaps in some parts of the state.
However, PDP State Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji, in a statement, argued that Federal Government controlled the security agencies and not the state government.
He said instead of holding Governor Makinde responsible for breach of security in some parts of the state, the blame should be dropped on the doorsteps of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.
He, therefore, described as irresponsible, reprehensible and untoward, a statement by some attention-seekers in the APC in the state, which tried to put the blame of an alleged spate of insecurity on Governor Seyi Makinde.
He maintained that with the level of investment and support given to security agencies by Governor Makinde, President Muhammadu Buhari, rather than the governor, should be called to question on the failure of the security system across the country, including Oyo State.
The Oyo PDP spokesman described alleged attempts by APC members to pass the buck of the growing insecurity to Governor Makinde as lame, unthoughtful and mischievous.
Olatunji equally faulted the reasoning of the APC on Governor Makinde’s role in the #EndSARS protests, noting that the governor did not in any way err or support hoodlums against security agents, as the APC had been trying hard to portray.
The statement read, “The jobless individuals who authored the said statement should have done their homework to see that whatever security challenges they tried to blow beyond proportion are not peculiar to Oyo State, but are indications of how the security architecture of the country has failed under President Buhari.
“The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oyo State has been drawn to a statement authorised by some jobless noisemakers in the All Progressives Congress (APC), who are trying to magnify the security situation of Oyo state out of proportion.
“The statement in question erroneously indicated that the security situation was getting worse in the state, clearly unmindful of the monumental investment of the incumbent administration in that sector.
“It is clearly untrue that the security is getting worse in Oyo State. What is clear is that a few APC unpatriotic loudmouths have been trying all they could to wish Oyo State bad by magnifying whatever incident linked directly or indirectly to Oyo State in an attempt to rubbish the achievements of Governor Makinde in the area of security.
“While we do not want to insinuate that APC members and leaders, some of whom have openly boasted that they will set traps for Governor Makinde not to succeed, are sponsoring hoodlums to disturb the peace of the state, the body language of the opposition and the fruitless attempts to pass the buck of insecurity in the entire country to Governor Makinde has sold them out as unpatriotic.
“What we in the PDP know is that Oyo State ranks among the least troubled in the national security index as attested to by undiluted facts. But agents of the APC, having failed in their efforts to find faults with the laudable infrastructural initiatives in Oyo State under Governor Makinde, are trying to exaggerate every incident just to paint a picture of insecurity and blackmail the administration.
The PDP added, “However, we won’t fail to direct them as appropriate to President Muhammadu Buhari, who made security of lives and property a keyword of his agenda while campaigning for presidency.
“We will admonish them to ask the President what happened to the security architecture he inherited from President Goodluck Jonathan, which Oyo State under the APC also benefited from, to the extent that kidnapping, banditry and insurgency have become a daily occurrence across the 17 states of the North and parts of the South.
“We want to direct the APC elements to ask the President how he mismanaged the country to the extent that Nigerians, including Oyo State residents, became so angry and rose against the system during the #EndSARS protests and how the pent-up anger has continued to affect the society to date.
The party further said, “The truth is that Nigeria was safer and better managed under the PDP administration. It is being badly managed under the APC and that’s what is robbing off on the states of the federation.
“Those who are busy making noise about Makinde like the usual armchair critics that they are, cannot deny the fact that the governor has been the most supportive of security agencies among his peers. On assumption of office in 2019, he immediately bought 100 security vehicles equipped with communication gadgets, added another 25 in 2020 and spearheaded the formation of Amotekun.
“He has also launched the state security hotline, 615, Oyo State Crime alert application and a statewide CCTV coverage. No wonder the state has been positively feeling the impacts of Operation Burst, Amotekun and even the Police, which has finally ended its boycott of the roads in states of the country.”