Date: 2013-02-04

KWARA State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Sunday accused the Ahmed-led People's Democratic Party (PDP) government of plotting to sack the only opposition local council chairman , Prince Saheed Popoola, using the recent Offa /Erin Ile crisis as a smokescreen.

In a statement issued in Ilorin at the weekend, the state ACN chairman, Kayode Olawepo, said the party "has it on good authority that the leadership of the Kwara State PDP has resolved to hide under the recent Offa-Erin Ile crisis to remove the only ACN chairman in Offa council by dissolving the council."

He said: "This latest plan is condemnable and reeks of hypocrisy and cheap politics. It will fail! It is on record that the Offa Chairman has since four months ago - long before the outbreak of the recent violence - intimated the PDP-led state government of suspicion that some elements were planning to unleash violence on the two communities."

But the Director of Publicity of the PDP in the state, Mas'ud Adebimpe, described Olawepo's allegation as "baseless."

He added: "Let him tell the world the source of his information. We are not moved by his allegations but as a party, we will appreciate him if he can back it"