The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted the Inspector-General of Police and the leaderships of other statutory security services to be wary of a sponsored protest of the coalition of the civil society groups orchestrated by the Governor Ademola Adeleke-led government to demonstrate over the federal allocations for the local government council impasse in the state.
If the information at our disposal is anything to go by, the state government has enlisted the services of the civil society groups to lay siege to the local government council areas when it could not have its way through litigation in the various courts in the country.
We are not against any lawful protest as it is one of the ingredients of a democratic government. But when such protest is commercialised, it becomes a suspected political tool devised to get at the political opposition.
It is strange that since the advent of the Governor Adeleke-led administration over three years ago, it has been scoring the unusual first of sponsoring protests and strikes against its government as it was witnessed during the 11-month abandonment of duty posts by the factional members of the state chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees(NULGE) who were on sympathy strike with the governor.
The strikes of the state chapter of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria(JUSUN) which were embarked upon at the instance of the state government are too recent to have been forgotten by the discerning members of the society.
The observed latest desperation of the state government to cause schism over the the federal allocations for the local government councils in the state is worrisome as all conventional and unconventional means have been devised by the Adeleke-led government to access the accumulated funds through the backdoor.
Sources close to the state government disclosed that it was when the series of legal misrepresentation, misinformation and disinformation about the council allocations failed that those who have been thinking for the government touted the option of using civil society groups who would flood the state, appearing as if their activities are devoid of the sponsorship and intervention of the state government.
But investigations have shown that it is the state government that is sponsoring the proposed coordinated protest slated for tomorrow, Monday 2nd day of February, 2026.
It was further gathered that it is only if there is a change of tactics by the sponsors of the protest that it would be put on hold as all the arrangements have been perfected by the leaders and the footsoldiers of the commercialised civil society intervention in Osun State.
Further investigation revealed that the leader of the protests is one Igbo man from the Eastern part of the country which may make the politically-induced ruse to be mistaken by the majority of the innocent people of Osun State as an extension of the IPOB Sit-at-Home which is currently popular in the Eastern part of the country. Moreso, such is also said to have been fixed to Monday.
The embattled Accord/PDP-led state government has failed to hoodwink or gaslight members of the public through its disingenuous cases superfluously instituted just to blackmail the Federal Government and the opposition over its belligerent refusal to respect just only one judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on the 10th of February, 2025.
The level of desperation is viewed from the latest reported protests just because of its inability to command the Federal Government and all other government institutions including the police to disobey the rule of law.
It is bizzaire that a government sponsors artificial strike from its civil service running to almost three quarters of its tenure in office.
The state commissioner of police and the leaderships of other sister statutory security services should know where to beam their searchlight should there be a breakdown of law and order in the state as a result of the resolve of the state government to promote the needless protest.
e-SIGNED:
*Mogaji KOLA OLABISI, Osun State APC Director of Media and Information.*
