A strongly worded press statement submitted to newsrooms this morning by a civic advocacy group, Concerned Citizens of Owo for Good Governance and Cultural Integrity has issued a stern warning to political detractors within the Owo chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), while simultaneously passing an unequivocal vote of confidence in the Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Wumi Isaac.
In the statement, signed by the President of the group, Mr. Olarenwaju Adeleke Joseph, Mrs. Isaac was described as a public officer whose stewardship in government exemplifies technocratic competence, ethical restraint and grassroots legitimacy, attributes the group noted are increasingly scarce in contemporary public administration.
According to the group, by any objective assessment of public service delivery, the Commissioner for Finance has distinguished herself as a stabilising force within both government and party structures. Particular emphasis was placed on her uncommon acceptance in her country home of Owo, where, the statement noted, she enjoys broad-based goodwill that cuts across factional divides within the APC. Party loyalists, community leaders and ordinary citizens were said to regard her as measured in conduct, progressive in outlook and resolute in her commitment to inclusive governance.
The statement argued that this goodwill did not arise by happenstance but represents the cumulative dividend of principled leadership and a deliberate refusal to personalise public office. Mrs. Isaac’s public philosophy, the group observed, is firmly anchored on the democratic imperative that political power must circulate, participation must be widened and accountability must remain public-facing.
It was this ethos, the group alleged that has unsettled what it described as a narrow and parochial caucus within the local APC hierarchy, actors accused of long-standing dominance over party patronage, visibility and benefits which they allegedly deploy for personal gratification and the entrenchment of favoured cronies.
The group expressed concern that such actors have allegedly operated with scant regard for institutional party leadership at the local government level, an omission it described as both ironic and injurious given that the same local government produced the Deputy Governor of the State and the Commissioner for Finance. This conduct, the statement warned, is not merely discourteous but structurally corrosive as it undermines internal party democracy, erodes collective ownership of governance and alienates the grassroots base upon which electoral legitimacy rests.
Citing a recent incident surrounding a Christmas stakeholders’ meeting with the Governor of Ondo State, the group alleged that sixty beneficiaries were selected from the local government area for seasonal largesse, only for the list to be dominated by what it termed “political relics”; elderly figures whose active years neither strengthened the party nor uplifted the kingdom yet who have allegedly mastered the art of perpetual self-recycling. More troubling, according to the statement was the reported exclusion of loyalists and associates of the Commissioner for Finance and the alleged failure to consult her at any stage of the process.
The group maintained that once the anomaly was identified, corrective measures were both justified and inevitable. Democracy, it asserted, abhors stagnation and no individual or clique can remain an eternal beneficiary by default, immune to renewal or generational transition. The replacement of some names with younger, more agile and committed party faithfuls was described as a rational act of political rebalancing and a reaffirmation that the APC must remain a living organisation rather than, in its words, “a mausoleum of spent ambitions.”
Rather than engage in introspection or constructive dialogue, the statement alleged that some displaced beneficiaries resorted to political blackmail, misinformation and reputational sabotage. Such conduct, the group warned, is unbecoming and potentially actionable. While acknowledging that political dissent is legitimate, it stressed that orchestrated falsehood and a calculated mischief fall squarely within the remit of legal liability, noting pointedly that the instruments of justice are neither sentimental nor selective.
The statement concluded by passing a firm vote of confidence in Mrs. Wumi Isaac for her performance in office, her loyalty to party ideals and her principled insistence on inclusion as a pathway to public accountability. It also issued a solemn warning to detractors, urging them to retrace their steps, noting that wisdom, not weakness, is often found in restraint.
“The APC in Owo Local Government must not be held hostage by a few who mistake longevity for legitimacy and entitlement for leadership,” the statement declared, adding pointedly that in politics, as in life, a word is indeed enough for the wise.
Post a Comment