Osun State governorship aspirant, Senator Ademola Adeleke, was filmed telling a crowd that he has come with lots of money to give to voters.
The Senator, who represented the Osun West Senatorial District between 2017 and 2019, is contesting the governorship position on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Speaking during a campaign, Adeleke told voters that he arrived with money for them.
“If it’s about money, I have come with money,” Senator Adeleke said in Yoruba while patting his pocket.
He told them he wasn’t there with only Naira but also with Dollars, Pounds and Euros.
“Fire for fire,” he added as his audience hailed him.
According to him: “My fellow Osun residents, you are the one to decide. It is not by force, not by gimmicks, if it is money, I have brought money and not only Naira but dollars, pounds and Euro. This time around, it is fire for fire for Osun governorship election.”
The utterance has been greeted with condemnation and commendation by supporters of the ruling and opposition party in the state on social media.
Meanwhile, the campaign Director-General of Adegboyega Oyetola, Senator Ajibola Bashir, in a statement on Monday chided Senator Adeleke and PDP for planning to buy residents of Osun state with hard currencies.
“This explains why in spite of the way the 2018 election went, our administration began infrastructure intervention from Ede, the hometown of the PDP candidate.
“Osun people are enlightened, they know that the state and its citizens are not up for sale to the highest bidder. Therefore, the PDP candidate should keep his money. Or better still, he could deploy those resources to establish industries to provide jobs for the people.
“This way, he will also be supporting the present administration’s noticeable efforts in the last three and half years to industrialise the state and change its narrative as a civil service state, to one bubbling with economic activities.
“It is on record that the Oyetola-led administration has since inception taken concrete steps to open up the state for investments, and has been able to attract a number of investments into Osun, contributing to the economic growth of the state.
“We assure the PDP candidate that, like the administration did to other players in the private sector, we will provide a level playing ground for his business to thrive and ensure Osun and its people derive maximum benefit from the investment.
“As a responsible party, we urge Senator Adeleke and his party to embrace peaceful conduct and decorum in their political engagements and electioneering.
“We must avoid any comment or action that can jeopardise the peace and stability of our state.”