The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, petitioned the state Director of State Security Service (DSS) and the Commissioner of Police, Osun Command, accusing the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sunday Bisi, and the state Commissioner of Information, Kolapo Alimi, of allegedly plotting a violent takeover of local councils.

Also listed in the petition copied to other security agencies, include the Chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), Hashim Abioye, and the Spokesperson for Osun State Governor, Olawale Rasheed.

Tension had built up in the state since last Friday when the Court of Appeal, sitting in Akure, in its judgment, dismissed the motion by the APC to relist an appeal that had been struck out on January 13, 2025, for lack of diligent prosecution.

The appeal followed a suit instituted by the All Peoples Party (APP) against OSSIEC at the Federal High Court, challenging the legality of a local council poll conducted on October 15, 2022.

Both the APC and Osun State government had disagreed over the implications of the judgment regarding the control of local councils, which are currently under the control of APC council bosses reinstated by the February 10 ruling of the same Court of Appeal, Akure.

The copy of the petition, dated June 16, 2025, forwarded to journalists in Osogbo, was signed by the state Legal Adviser of the APC, Adeleke Ogunsola.

Ogunsola, in the petition, alleged that Bisi, Alimi, Abioye and Rasheed were plotting to recruit thugs, who will be deployed to attack top local council functionaries that were elected in February 15, 2022 council poll.

BUT reacting to the petition, the PDP’s Director of Media in Osun State, Hezekiah Oladele Bamiji, said the ruling party and the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke had toed the line of peace and justice over the council debacle.

He said: “APC are always jittery on nothing. Perhaps, they are afraid of their own shadow. They know that perhaps that is what they do when they were in government. But for us, we don’t have anything to do with violence. The people of the state can attest to that.

“The governor, being the leader of the state, if he was to be violent, I believe many of the APC leaders will not be in this state today. When they came up with their shenanigans fomenting trouble, relying on federal might, relying on the support of the police and others, the governor, instead of matching them with our own might of the support of the people in the state, took the path of peace and instructed that nobody must confront them at the council.

“The governor, instead, resorted to pursuing the legal option through the court of law instead of orchestrating bloodshed. Our governor has never been in support of bloodshed. And the party that produced the government will also not support any kind of violence.”