A political pressure group, “SeyiBayoDe” has uncovered a plot by Teslim Folarin, the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) governorship candidate, to undermine the political influence of Oyo acting Governor, Barrister Bayo Lawal, for his continuous acceptability in Oke-ogun zone.
Folarin, who is getting increasingly jittery about Lawal’s popularity and widespread acceptance as deputy Governor of Oyo state and Governor Makinde’s running mate in the 2023 general elections, recruited a faceless group to carry out his will through well-known APC microblog sites with a 10,000 subscription for the purported piece on “No One Can Rival My Political Influence In Okeogun, on Saturday.
In a statement released on Sunday, ‘SeyiBayoDe’ noted that Mr. Pakute, also known as Mr. “Jagba,” whom Oyo citizens had long rejected, has no agenda to sell to the Oyo people for him and his party to be finalizing plans with some dubious media figures and platforms to amplify a man with commensurate track records going back to the 1970s, and whose disposition is still speaking for him today.
The position of the faceless group was further described in the statement as “most laughable” given that there is currently no one of his age, experience, exposure, or political stature in Oke-Ogun, which consists of 10 local government areas, who can rival his political influence across the zone’s 10 local government areas.
A testimony to such is the fact that, at the time of his emergence as deputy Governor cum acting Governor, all the traditional rulers, at the last count, 41 of them, paid him a courtesy call including the League of Alfas and Imams and virtually all the socio-cultural organisations in Oke-Ogun.
The group emphasized that the acting governor’s widespread acceptance and popularity have been giving APC members nightmares and causing them to use deceit in their campaign against the joint ticket of Seyi Makinde and Bayo Lawal.
“In carrying out their nefarious deals, they are using three weapons: propaganda, religion, and deceit to bring him down after finding it so difficult to overcome his track records while he served as attorney general of Oyo State and immediate chairman of Oyo Housing corporation.
“Their attack dogs and propaganda machineries continue in their attempt to trash, discredit Bayo Lawal and everything good he represents that entices his followers.
“But they don’t realize that PDP members are more experienced with their antics, and that Oyo State’s good citizens are now more informed about events, let alone allowing a mushroom party whose previous administration was marked by broken promises, poor governance, and flagrant lies even in the face of obvious facts.”
“Ordinarily, we would not have dignified the faceless group with response but for the sake of unsuspecting members who may fall for their “divisive approach” in an attempt to undermine the already established unity and spirit of sportsmanship among Oke-ogun PDP members since the appointment of Barrister Bayo Lawal as the unifier.
“We hope their foot soldiers who are stopping at nothing to hoodwink the public into believing their lies and ‘jejune write ups’ truly came from PDP group will tender their apology in shame after uncovering their plot”
