Monday, November 19, 2012

LG poll: PDP warns Tinubu, issues ultimatum to tribunal


The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday issued a stern warning to a former Governor of Lagos State and the national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the members of the local government election tribunal in the state.

The PDP said it was clear that Tinubu has manipulated the tribunal to withhold judgement in areas where the PDP clearly won the election. In a statement signed by a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, the party warned that if after two weeks, judgement of the tribunal did not come, the PDP would show that it had deliberately maintained peace in the state in the last one year.

George’s statement came as the Ekiti and Osun chapters of the PDP also warned Governors Kayode Fayemi and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola respectively, that they would neither succumb to intimidation nor victimisation by the governors.

George’s statement reads,  “I want to draw the attention of all well meaning Lagosians to the brazen and blatant attempt by Bola Tinubu to pervert justice and subjugate the collective will of Lagosians to his own whim and caprices.

“The last Local Government elections vividly demonstrated that the PDP candidate won in Badagry Local Government where the returning officer counted the votes and declared publicly the victory for Mr. Tafa Dada who polled 7,355 votes over the ACN candidate who got 6,383 votes. The proceedings were videotaped and properly documented.

“Despite all this, Tinubu’s self-appointed Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, overturned Mr. Dada’s victory without any justification and crudely awarded victory to the ACN candidate. Such daylight robberies would be replicated in Alimosho, Agboyi, Eredo, Ikoyi-Obalende, Somolu and several other Local Governments.

Throughout this blatant criminality, we have kept our cool. We have worked assiduously to ensure that the peace in Lagos must be maintained at all cost. We have painstakingly worked within the judicial processes of the ACN self appointed and self-established electoral tribunals. We have taken everything with settled resolve knowing full well that we have no other place than Lagos.

“Tinubu somehow now thinks that our quiet insistence on working through the processes of law is a sign of weakness. In a disturbing sequence of events just after our candidates were pronounced victorious at the Badagry and Ikoyi-Obalende tribunals, Tinubu teleguided ACN government has apparently brow-beaten the Tribunal judges to withhold judgment indefinitely even after the lower Tribunal  had affirmed categorically the victory of Mr. Tafa Dada and Mr. Jide Obanikoro.

“Let me state categorically that Bola Tinubu is playing with fire. Enough is enough. If well meaning and well born Lagosians are willing to keep quiet and condone this apparent rape of justice, it is quite a shame.

But I will not condone it. The PDP leadership rejects the so called suspension of judgment in Badagry and Ikoyi-Obalende with absolute disdain.  This egregious attempt to drag Lagos deep down into the frightening jungle of the lawless whim of one man will not stand.

“This is Lagos and not Iragbiji. The venom driven, power mongering, empire-building and blind totality of Tinubu’s captive Lagos must now be forced to collapse and disintegrate since it is built on falsehood and transient fancy.  

“All well-meaning Lagosians, both indigenes and non-indigenes must now henceforth challenge and destroy all the ineffable castle of greed and madness that Tinubu has installed in Lagos.

“There is no other way. We either continue along this ruinous path and sink and die like slaves or we seize the moment and challenge the rampaging evil of Tinubu with all legitimate means of defense.

The PDP leadership is now giving the cowed Appeal Tribunal two weeks to rise up and live up to all the norms of fairness and civility. We demand justice without prejudice. We demand justice without fear or favour. Nothing else will do. No half measures. The judges should say it the way it is.

“If Tinubu thinks he can brow-beat everyone, he is mistaken. We are willing and ready to march to the illegally occupied Secretariats both in Badary and Ikoyi-Obalende. We shall defend our mandates with all fair means and with all justifiable action. But we shall never whimper nor fail.

The terrible scourge of Tinubu must be removed immediately from the soil of Lagos. This madness must stop now, no matter what it takes. We will defend all that is fair and just no matter the price. The present evil in Lagos State must absolutely give way. This is my resolute and immovable position. Justice must prevail now!”

In Ekiti State, the  Government has been warned against harassing and victimising opposition in the state while hiding under the provisions of some laws including the amended Electoral Act 2010.

Also, the party said the state government cannot hide under the provisions of the state’s Signage Law intended to stop indiscriminate pasting of posters to bar the opposition members from exercising their political rights.

A chieftain of the PDP, Mr Obafemi Adewale, stated this in Ikere-Ekiti at the weekend while commenting on recent happenings in the political scene in the state.

Adewale, the Director-General of the Bisi Omoyeni for Ekiti Revival (BOFER), said the Elctoral Act 2010 only forbids political parties from holding rallies without the authorisation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police, saying that it did not preclude political parties from holding meetings with their members ahead of the 2014 governorship election. 

Adewale said the government should exhibit tolerance and stop hiding  under the law to clampdown on intending PDP aspirants and deprive them of the right to peacefully advance their  aspirations.

He posited that the government’s claim that it was too early for the PDP to hold political meetings as self-serving and an attempt to subtly muzzle the opposition.

The former commissioner described holding of political meetings as a legitimate right under the constitution, saying blocking any political party from exercising this right would dwindle the country’s democratic fortunes.

He said the political space in Ekiti was wide enough to accommodate all political parties, adding that he expected the government to see a virile opposition as a catalyst for it to deliver, rather than a threat.

It would be recalled that some ACN members clashed with supporters of former Governor Ayo Fayose in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, while Fayose’s people were pasting his political posters.

The state government, while commenting on the development, accused the Fayose team of breaching the provisions of provisions of its Signage Law.

During the clash, no fewer than seven people from both sides were wounded, while six people were also arrested and quizzed by the police.

Meanwhile, Osun State Chapter of the PDP has vowed to resist any form of intimidation and victimisation by the Action ACN controlled government of Osun State.

A release signed by the Chairman of the party, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa and made available to newsmen at Osogbo weekend noted that from available information at the disposal of the party, it is obvious that Osun State government has perfected plan to demolish structures belonging to members of PDP across the state.

According to him, just last Saturday, no fewer than 50 members of the Osun State Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) stormed the farm of a chieftain of the party located along Ring road Osogbo to inform the workers that they would demolish all the structures on the farm today.

Alhaji Olaoluwa said the employees of Olu Alabi farm were issued a 36-hour ultimatum within which they should remove all the structures on the land and park all their properties or have them demolished today (Monday).

The PDP Chairman said he had earlier in the year intimated the National Security Adviser, the State Director of S.S.S, and the Osun State Police Command in writing of planned victimization of PDP members by the ACN controlled government in Osun State.

While calling on all security agencies to take proactive measure to stem the planned attack on properties of members of his party, Alhaji Olaoluwa said his party will “resist the move by Aregbesola’s administration to turn Osun State to a theatre of war”.

Alhaji Olaoluwa stated further that reports at his disposal shows that the Filling Station belonging to the immediate past Chairman of  PDP as well as one of his own personal property is among the several properties government is planning to demolish “for no just cause”.

He decries a situation where no fewer than 45 individuals earning their income from the Olu Alabi farm, and scores of workers also making it through the other property marked for demolition will be thrown into labour market abruptly.

No comments: