Some residents of Ondo state have taken to the social media to condemn the red beret insignia of the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organization Foot Soldiers (LACO-FS) , saying that it was an alleged endorsement of cultism in the state.
Many belief that members of different cult groups are known and identified with beret with different colours especially yellow and red.
A citizen who wrote on social media said, ” I have seen revolutionaries don berets as symbols of their socioeconomic beliefs. Some of them push for communism. Some prefer socialism. Others go for the other economic and political beliefs.
” I have seen Julius Malema. I have met Omoyele Sowore. I know Bobi Wine. I have read about other far left activists around the world embracing berets. Though extreme, their social, economic and political positions are often clear.
” Outside politics, I know the red beret is part of the military police, paramilitary and police force uniform.
” What exactly is Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his supporters bringing into Ondo State with their berets? What’s the idea and ideology behind donning red berets on the streets of Akure and Akoko? What’s the socioeconomic belief of a typical Aiyedatiwa supporter? What does Aiyedatiwa stand for?
” If this is not about their economic and political beliefs, should we be scared that a set of people, led by Mr
Governor, have now adopted a style of clothing that has significant meaning and messages it is passing across?
Are we safe in Ondo State?
But the campaign organization in a statement on Sunday dismissed the reports of cultism, adding that the governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa and members of the group are peaceful loving citizens.
The full statement below
LACO-FS Red Beret, Not a Trademark of Cultism
Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers (LACO-FS) is a peaceful, mainstream campaign organisation for the Ondo State Governor, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa, and has never been in anyway associated with thuggery, brigandage, or anything untoward.
Joyfully, our team has been campaigning across the state among our party members in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in preparation for the governorship primary election coming up next month.
It is, however, benumbing coming across grave expressions on the social media, especially through some twitter handles (now rebranded as X), that our group is bringing cultism to Ondo State for the simple reason that we don red berets to our campaign rallies.
While those bandying the insinuations of thuggery or cultism have bombarded the net with their tar brushes, they fail woefully to prove any instance of violence in our activities, and find it hard to produce any pictorial or camera evidence of where Aiyedatiwa supporters under the aegis of LACO-FS are armed with any weapon at all, much less a dangerous one.
Certainly, such critics are only full of bile and are consumed by their giddy belicosity, in envy of the unstoppable love that the people of Ondo State have for Governor Aiyedatiwa. In simple logic of semantics, a foot soldier stands for a committed supporter in readiness to work with loyalty and dedication, which we indeed stand for, in our support for the election of Aiyedatiwa come next November.
Doomdayers and naysayers should produce proof when alleging violence; otherwise, they should keep silence and watch from the sidelines, as we march on in this show of love for a dedicated Governor whom the people of Ondo State want, for the next term of four years.
Therefore, LACO-FS comes in peace.
(E-=signed)
Kayode Fasua,
State Director of Information,
Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers (LACO-FS)
