Taiwo Adisa, Chief Press Secretary to Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday, warned Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, and others in opposition to stop playing 2023 politics with the situation in Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun.
Taiwo accused them of missing the point due to pettiness, contempt and attempt to play to the gallery.
The CPS said the opposition ought to demonstrate patriotism by empathising with the people and coming up with their own ideas on how to address the matter.
He condemned the picture being painted by Dare and some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which suggested that the government did nothing on the Ibarapa security challenge.
Adisa wondered why Dare passed the buck on insecurity to Makinde when it was obvious that the dereliction of duty by President Muhammadu Buhari-led government brought the Nigeria country to its knees security wise.
“Whereas Nigerians can count on their fingers the number of states ravaged by insecurity in 2015, today, none of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, is free of kidnapping, banditry, rape, and other crimes.
“It is unwise and completely unwarranted for Dare to fail to tell the world what positive thing he, as a member of the Federal Executive Council, has contributed to assist the state in its battles against insecurity.
“The state of affairs security-wise in virtually all geopolitical zones of the country has exposed the failure of Dare’s boss and that’s a reality no Nigerian can deny,” he said.
He recalled that Makinde, at the height of the insecurity in Ibarapa, deployed Operation Burst, a state-backed security outfit comprising the Army, Nigeria Security, and Civil Defence Corps and the Police to Ibarapa in large numbers.
Taiwo added that his principal also sent men and officers of MOPOL 72, located strategically in Ago-Are in Oke-Ogun axis.
“The government followed-up that deployment with the mass deployment of the men of the Oyo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, to Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun axes to quench the rising insecurity.”
Adisa maintained that the mass deployment of security operatives to the area had begun to yield positive results in the last few weeks.
“We would like to diminish Dare and his fellows in the rat race for 2023 governorship to toe the path of honour and stop advertising ignorance and displaying unpatriotic tendencies when it comes to issues affecting the state”, the statement read.
