Aregbesola may assault me during debate – Omisore

  

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has said engaging Governor Rauf Aregbesola in a public debate may be risky because the governor may attack him.

Omisore said this in an interview with our correspondent in Osogbo. Aregbesola had earlier challenged Omisore to a public debate to tell the people their manifestos.

Although Omisore said he was ready for the challenge he added that he must be assured that Aregbesola would not assault him with state boys and thugs allegedly being raised by the All Progressives Congress’ candidate.

Omisore said, “How can I be afraid of engaging him in a debate? But when argument is being drawn between two unequal parties, the weaker of the two may result to physical assault and harassment. We don’t want this to happen.

“Aregbesola has not hidden the fact that he has personal hatred for me and people tell me all sorts of lies he fabricates to disparage me. You don’t expect more than that from a barely literate politician like him.

“You remember that Aregbesola presented O’level to INEC. So we need an assurance that Ogbeni will not resort to assault if he is confronted with hard facts with evidence.

“Once we are assured that decorum will be allowed and that our safety is guaranteed, I am ready for the debate.

“Ogbeni Aregbesola has state boys, a group he is rearing and going to participate in a debate with violent people with array of thugs will be too much of a risk to take for us.”

Omisore, who also accused the APC government of massive corruption, said that contracts were awarded without following the provisions of the Procurement Act.

According to him, sidestepping the due process in contract award is a serious offence, which any leader who professes to be transparent must avoid.

He said, “Transparency and accountability are very important in governance. You are put in office based on the trust of the people. But as soon as the APC government came on board, Aregbesola scrapped due process. Now, there is no way you can track down government expenses.

The PDP candidate further alleged that the administration awarded contracts to godfathers, relations and party leaders, especially persons from outside the state without executing the projects.

“Let us go to the so-called opon imo. This is an N8.4 billion scam handled by his own biological son. Now, they are withdrawing them from the pupils. The device is valueless and it is just for profit-making and nothing else.

“In opon imo, we have 17 subjects and 87 per cent errors precisely. I went through it and I analyzed it. For instance, in opon imo, there is no single graph in mathematics, no single illustrative table and no single diagram. You can’t teach mathematics without graphs, without histograms, without tables and without diagrams,” he added.

But the Director of Publicity of Aregbesola Camapign Organisation, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, when contacted, said Omisore had shown that he was afraid of engaging Aregbesola in a debate.