Osoba berated Amosun for his anti-party activities, and particularly lamented the incident in which national leaders of the party were pelted with objects during the APC presidential campaign rally in Ogun State.
Olusegun Osoba, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says Ibikunle Amosun, Governor of Ogun State, has "serious inferiority complex".
According to Osoba, Amosun's issues with complex is why the latter resorted to visiting President Muhammadu Buhari, after he was suspended by the APC.
Osoba berated Amosun for his anti-party activities, and particularly lamented the incident in which national leaders of the party were pelted with objects during the APC presidential campaign rally in Ogun State.
Speaking in an interview with ThisDay, he said: "I am so disappointed with the way the media is hyping Amosun’s visit to the President. Amosun is coming from serious inferiority complex. If he has confidence in himself, he does not need to run in and out of the presidential villa. He is the governor. All governors are given direct access to the president. A serious governor will not be going, photo-shopping with president every day.
"He told the media that he went to the Presidential Villa 28 times within five weeks. What result did it produce? Do not forget. The President came to Abeokuta. He saw what happened. Yet, he is making mountain out of molehill. When the president came, he simply said vote for me and exercise your right in all elections.
"One, he can vouch for himself as President who swore to protect the Constitution of Nigeria. He was speaking as the President because the Constitution guarantees the freedom of association and right to vote for whom you like. So, he spoke as a politician and as a statesman. He does not bother me at all. The President has no vote in Ogun State. He has no direct say in the outcome of the elections in Ogun State. I do not need to sit in the villa, while Mr. President’s vote is in Katsina. It is me that will prove to the whole world that the President has spoken as the statesman, who swore to protect the Constitution and who said exercise your rights. Now, we will go and exercise that right. I do not need to go the presidential villa to exercise my right. If you want to go the villa, the vote in the villa is in the villa and not in Ogun State."
He also expressed serious disappointment with the conduct of the Commissioner of Police in the state, insisting that he should be "kicked out".
"As a citizen of Ogun State, I pay my tax to Ogun State in millions of Naira annually. Let the governor himself disclose my tax profile. I am among the first ten citizens that pay the highest tax to the Government of Ogun State. On this note, I demand the right of protection from Iliyasu. He has failed woefully.
"If the Commander-in-Chief was pelted with water sachets with a good number of police officers surrounding hoodlums that day and none of the hoodlums was arrested, we do not need any analyst to know that the Police Commissioner is a total failure. God forbid. If anything had hit Mr. President that day and he collapsed, what will we say in Ogun State? Out of 36 states the president travelled to, Ogun State is the only state where such an incident happened. The Police Commissioner did not arrest any suspect. I went to the president a week after. I asked him: 'What is going on?' A whole Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was stoned. The Nigeria Police is part of the Armed Forces. If not for the eagle’s eye of the presidential guard seizing and stopping the pelted objects from getting to the president, the story will have been different. Even, the domestic assistant to the president fell flat before Mr. President that day.
"I once told the president that they were tearing and defacing your billboards. Mr. President himself answered if it happened in the North, it could lead to riot. Yet, the Police Commissioner did not arrest any suspect. As for me, Iliyasu is of no value. What can the police commissioner do to us? We have told our people to be ready. The law says you have the right to defend yourself. The right to self-defence is entrenched in our Constitution. We have resorted to self-defence. Let one million Iliyasus be made Police Commissioners, we will cast our votes in peaceful manner.
"So, his presence has energised our people. I have gone round to preach to them. Forget about the Police Commissioner and not the rank and file. But those who are backing him will regret on Saturday when we deliver the governorship election in Ogun State to the APC and Mr. President, who has won his election. I do not need the Police. When you are in the majority, God is with you."