APC accuses PDP of wooing Osun voters with expired rice

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has accused the Nigerian Custom Service of releasing bags of expired rice, confiscated several months ago from smugglers to members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party for distribution to voters ahead of the August 9 governorship election.

APC Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi told journalists in Osogbo, the state capital, that PDP in collaboration with the Nigerian Customs warehouse in Ikeja, allegedly loaded trailers filled with bags of expired rice and brought them into the state.

The APC spokesperson alleged that competent sources from the Customs told the party that the bags of rice were unsuitable for human consumption and warned Osun people to be cautious.

“Osun citizens should therefore be warned that their lives are at risk. We had earlier warned people of the state of the PDP chairman’s boast that they will win the election with a bag of rice and at least N10,000 to each voter.

“What the PDP intended to do was to bring expired rice to Osun and distribute. Those who love their lives should be careful because the PDP will stop at nothing including the distribution of poisonous food stuff to win election,” he said.

But spokesman for the Osun PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi, who is also the spokesperson of the party’s candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore, said the confiscated rice was brought into the country by APC. He said: “The APC is accusing us of what it is doing. It was APC that actually imported the confiscated rice into the country. They are in the habit of accusing us of their misdeeds as a way of covering up and everyone is becoming aware of APC lies and propaganda. August 9 will be the end of all these lies in Osun.”