The Kwara State Government has alleged that there were plots by some political interests to instigate violence and blame it on the state Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as part of a grand conspiracy to defame him.
This allegation was made known to the news men at a news conference chaired by the chief press secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye.
He said the plots also include sponsorship of spurious corruption allegations using framed up official documents and innuendoes in the media to blackmail the Governor.
The statement therefore urged members of the public and security agencies to be wary of the conspiracies.
“The objective of the plotters is to create a false image for the Governor as a promoter of violence, thereby heating up the polity in the name of politics and pitching him against the public. The desperadoes behind this plot do not care about the safety of the ordinary people and their properties,” Ajakaye told newsmen.
“The image they desperately seek to give the Governor is contrary to the sustained policy of His Excellency not to patronise thugs or any violent elements as was the case in the recent past. Rather than deploy the children of other people for political violence, the Governor desires to build a state that gives everyone, including those long condemned to thuggery and other antisocial behaviour, a fair chance to lead decent life. It is on record that even before becoming the Governor, he ran a campaign that was strictly issues-based without going around with thugs. He has a personal conviction that politics should be devoid of violence of any kind.
“Another leg of the evil campaign is a planned and sustained media campaign of calumny woven around baseless allegations of corruption, contract inflation and the likes using doctored documents and wicked innuendoes. All of these are targeted at the Governor because he chooses to do things differently. His only sin is his principled stand that Otoge means we cannot continue to share public patrimony to a few individuals. He is being targeted for malicious campaigns because he chooses to be his own man, and not to be another stooge who would be tossed around to do biddings other than what the public expects of him,”he stated.
Link him to violence
According to the Chief Press Secretary, the adversaries of the governor have perfected their plans to constantly link him to violence for their selfish reasons.
He said they resolved to make the state ungovernable for their personal agenda.
Central to this evil plot is a resolve to instigate crisis/attacks and then instruct those who carry out the attacks to “drop” the names of the Governor or his aides as their sponsors.
Ajakaiye mentioned that they want to sow cloths with the signature (AA) initials of the Governor and give same to their foot soldiers to wear in order to blackmail the Governor, which he described as desperation in its worst form.
Lateefah Ibrahim
