Osun APC faults Adeleke’s plan to introduce Park Management System

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted Governor Ademola Adeleke’s plan to introduce a state-run Park Management System in motor parks across the state, describing the proposal as illegal and unconstitutional.

In a statement signed by its director of media and information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi, the party said Adeleke’s directive to dismantle the existing garage and motor park leadership structure and replace it with a Park Management System backed by an executive order was a hasty and illegal response to the incident.

Olabisi said the governor lacked the constitutional authority to appoint the leadership of motor parks in the state, adding that such powers did not fall within the governor’s constitutional responsibilities.

“Though state governors sometimes intervene or attempt to manage parks or transport unions like the NURTW for security or administrative reasons, various court rulings in Nigeria have repeatedly declared direct state takeover or appointment of park managers as an unconstitutional infringement on local government powers,” he said.

The APC condemned the use of extrajudicial means to settle disputes, alleging that the Ile-Ife incident, in which Adeleke’s aide, Olalekan Oyeyemi, popularly known as ‘Emir’, was killed, confirmed its previous complaints about illegal arms and ammunition allegedly being in the hands of non-state actors.

Olabisi urged the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to prevail on the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Zungura, to urgently mop up illegally acquired arms and ammunition allegedly in the possession of political hoodlums.

He described the alleged proliferation of arms as a security risk to APC members, supporters and residents of the state, while condemning the killing of Oyeyemi and the use of violence to resolve disputes.

The APC also called on the police to go after the suspected arrowheads, Nurudeen Alowonle and Olayemi Ojo, popularly known as ‘Sibi’, over the alleged organised killing of Emir, with a view to arresting, investigating and prosecuting whoever is found culpable.