The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State has raised the alarm over an alleged plan to sponsor pensioners and other elderly persons to stage what it described as a violent picketing of United Bank for Africa, UBA, branches across the state on Monday over local government federal allocations.

In a press statement issued on Sunday by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi, the APC accused the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke of backing the planned protest — an allegation the party urged the state government to publicly deny.

The opposition party claimed it had received intelligence reports suggesting that some political appointees under the Adeleke administration were mobilising retirees and other individuals to protest at UBA branches in connection with the controversy surrounding the payment of federal allocations to local government councils.

According to the statement, the APC described the rumoured move as an attempt to generate public sympathy and create tension around the ongoing dispute over council allocations.

“We condemn in its entirety the alleged hiring of pensioners and non-pensioners for the rumoured protests at UBA branches in the state over issues already before the court,” the statement read.

The party further alleged that the planned action could trigger a breakdown of law and order if not urgently addressed, calling on security agencies to intervene.

APC specifically appealed to the Osun State Commissioner of Police and other security agencies to investigate the alleged plot and take preventive steps to maintain peace and order across the state.

The statement also referenced past disagreements between the state government and opposition figures over court judgments relating to local government administration and allocations, accusing the Adeleke administration of misinforming the public on legal rulings.

APC warned residents, particularly elderly citizens, against allowing themselves to be used for political purposes, adding that senior citizens should not be exposed to danger under any guise.

The party said the governor and his associates should be held accountable if any violence occurs in connection with the alleged protest, unless the state government publicly disowns the plan.

Efforts to get immediate reaction from the Osun State Government were unsuccessful as of press time.