The All Progressives Congress in Osun State has sunk to a new low, even by their own abysmal standards. In yet another display of breathtaking deceit, the court-sacked APC local government chairmen have allegedly withdrawn fresh billions from the withheld Osun local government allocations to purchase vehicles for the Osun State Police Command. This is not an act of goodwill or support for security; it is a calculated, shameless attempt to launder their criminal proceeds, cover up their illegality, and desperately fish for sympathy votes from the very people they have been robbing blind.
Let us be clear: these are not legitimate chairmen. They are impostors whose mandates were rightfully terminated by competent courts of law. Yet, in open defiance of judicial orders, they continue to hijack and divert public funds meant for grassroots development.
Now, they have dipped their hands even deeper into the same tainted treasury to buy flashy vehicles for the police.
The question every right-thinking Osun resident must ask is simple: why are the APC leaders in this state so fundamentally deceitful? Why do they always choose the path of lies, manipulation, and criminal subterfuge instead of respecting the rule of law?
This latest stunt reeks of desperation. The APC knows it has lost the trust of Osun people. Their illegal occupation of local government secretariats has become a national embarrassment, exposing their disdain for democracy and due process.
So what do they do? They orchestrate this fraudulent “donation” using money they have no moral or legal right to touch. It is a transparent ploy to portray themselves as generous benefactors while hoping the public will overlook the monumental fraud they have perpetrated against the 30 local government councils.
How insulting to the intelligence of our people. How deeply deceitful.
Worse still, this is not their first attempt. Having been caught once trying to use hijacked funds for similar purposes, they have brazenly gone back to the well—allegedly siphoning another huge sum from the same withheld allocations.
Senior officials of the United Bank for Africa are already standing trial for their alleged roles in the earlier diversion of these funds, yet the APC continues as if the courts do not exist. Their arrogance is staggering. Their deceit knows no bounds. They treat public resources like personal property and the police like an extension of their criminal enterprise.
One cannot help but wonder what kind of twisted logic drives such behaviour. Do they honestly believe that donating vehicles bought with stolen money will earn them sympathy votes? Do they think the good people of Osun are so gullible that a few Toyota SUVs will make them forget years of treasury looting, unpaid salaries, abandoned projects, and total neglect of local governance? This is not politics; this is political prostitution at its most repulsive. It is an attempt to bribe the police into looking the other way while they perpetuate their illegality, and to bribe the electorate into forgiving their sins.
The deceit runs deeper. By presenting these vehicles as “support for security,” the APC is trying to cloak their criminality in the language of patriotism. But no amount of glossy PR can hide the truth: every kobo used to buy those vehicles belongs to the people of Osun and should have been used for roads, healthcare, education, and rural development, not for buying protection or votes. Accepting such donations would not only compromise the integrity of the Nigeria Police Force but would also send a dangerous message that crime pays if you dress it up as charity.
The people of Osun deserve better than this endless cycle of deceit from the APC. For too long, this party has treated the state like a conquered territory to be plundered at will. Their court-sacked chairmen have no business touching local government funds, let alone using them for publicity stunts.
This latest vehicle donation saga is simply the latest chapter in a long book of deception, where illegality is masked as generosity and theft is repackaged as philanthropy.
It is high time the Inspector-General of Police intervened decisively. The Osun State Police Command must reject these tainted vehicles outright.
Any acceptance would amount to complicity in the diversion of public funds and would further erode public confidence in law enforcement. The courts are already seized of the matter—let justice take its course without the police allowing themselves to be used as props in the APC’s desperate theatre of deceit.
Osun people must see this for exactly what it is: a deceitful, last-ditch effort by a discredited party to launder its image and its loot. Do not be fooled. The same hands that hijacked your local government allocations are now using part of the proceeds to buy vehicles, hoping you will applaud them and forget their crimes. This level of deceit deserves nothing but contempt and rejection at the polls.
The APC in Osun has proven once again that deceit is not just a tactic for them, it is their defining character. Until they learn to respect the rule of law, the will of the people, and the sanctity of public funds, they will continue to expose themselves as nothing more than desperate political fraudsters masquerading as leaders. Osun deserves genuine governance, not this endless parade of criminal deceit.
E-signed: Hon Comrade James Onifade
Advocate for Good Governance and A Better Judicial System
