‘Ogun sliding into despotism’

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria in the 2011 election in Ogun State, Prince Gboyega Isiaka says the state is sliding into despotism and intolerance.

Citing the recent ban on media comments by all government functionaries in the state and the alleged high-handedness of the state against traditional rulers, Isiaka accused the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration of running a “closed government with dark intentions.”

The PPN aspirant, who was Amosun’s major opponent in the 2011 governorship election in the state condemned, in a statement, the “current assault” on the people of the state.

Isiaka said, “The governor recently through a fiat that was contained in an executive circular, SSG/ADM/22/173, released from the office of The Secretary to the State Government issued a ‘decree’ prohibiting all public officials from commenting in the media. It reads in part, “No public official must address the public without due clearance from appropriate quarters”. This order equally prohibits the Hon. Speaker of the OGHA from doing the same. I find this to be utterly ridiculous and embarrassing to Ogun state which happened to be the first to domesticate the FOI (Freedom of Information) law under the immediate past administration.

“The question that readily comes to mind is, what is this government trying to hide?

“Secondly, It is sad that the state government has not only demonstrated its disdain for our traditional institutions over and over again but has now cowed them into submission.”

But the ruling All Progressives Congress has urged the people of the state to disregard the PPN governorship aspirant’s outburst.

Ogun APC Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sola Lawal, said, “No administration can be more consultative than the Amosun administration. Even in simple matters of road construction, everyone is a living witness to the amount of discussion the government had with the people.