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The All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State have engaged in a war of words over the distribution of raw food items and dairy products to people of the state.
While the ruling APC accused the PDP of collaborating with the Nigeria Customs Service to bribe voters in the state with expired rice ahead of the August 9 governorship election, the PDP denied the allegation, saying it was meant for Ramadan.
The Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said in a statement in Osogbo on Saturday that the PDP colluded with the Nigeria Customs’ Service warehouse in Ikeja where the expired bags of rice were loaded and transported to Osun State to be distributed to voters.
The state APC spokesperson further alleged that the PDP had started to re-bag the expired rice to deceive intended recipients.
But the state Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, described the allegation as a lie designed to portray the opposition party in bad light.
Olaoluwa insisted the rice being distributed was for Ramadan.
In a counter-allegation, he also berated the ruling party in the state for distributing sachets of expired milk and noodles, saying the PDP gesture was aimed at cushioning the effect of poverty forced on the people of the state by the APC’s bad governance.
The APC statement read in part, “The All Progressives Congress has warned Osun people that the PDP, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs’ warehouse in Ikeja, has loaded trailers filled with thousands of bags of expired rice confiscated several months ago from smugglers.
“The expired bags of rice, which is poisonous, are being brought to Osun for distribution to voters. Competent sources from the Customs have also revealed that the concernment of those rice are unsuitable for human consumption. Osun citizens should therefore be warned that their lives are at risk from PDP poisoned rice.
“It is clear then that what the PDP intended to do was to bring expired rice to repackage and distribute to Osun people. Osun people are not hungry and they will not sell their birthrights for stolen public money, which the PDP want to distribute in towns and villages of Osun.”
The PDP chairman, who urged the people of the state to ignore the “lies of the APC”, assured the people that his party would improve their living standard if its candidate, Iyiola Omisore, was elected.
He said, “The APC is being mischievous. The party has resorted to fabrication of outright lies to discredit the PDP, having realised that the people have rejected their party.
“Our people know they are liars and they should not be taken seriously. They are jittery due to the popularity of the candidate of our party, Otunba (Iyiola) Omisore.
“We distributed rice to the people of the state during the Ramadan season three years ago; we did the same two years ago and last year. Did they raise any allegation? They are doing that because of the election? We just want to advise our people to reject the expired sachet milk and noodles from the APC”.
