 |
| PDP Lagos State Governorship Candidate Jimi Agbaje |
The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) condemns in the strongest possible terms the emerging height of
political recklessness in Lagos and Ekiti states ahead of Saturday’s
governorship and House of Assembly elections and calls on all Nigerians
to stand up against such anti-democratic tendencies.
The senseless and unpatriotic impeachment move against Governor Ayo
Fayose by out-going APC state legislators and the barbaric death threats
on non-indigenes in Lagos by the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu if
they vote for the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje ascend to a height of
unruliness that should not be accommodated.
The PDP totally and unequivocally rejects the flimsy and unsubstantiated
allegations concocted by the APC legislators against Governor Fayose.
We state in very clear terms that we will stand with him and bear our
full weight in defense of the mandate freely given to him by the people
of Ekiti state.
We invite all lovers of democracy and the international community to
note the antics of APC and the deliberate plot to destabilize the polity
even when it is yet to assume power. In the same vein, it is
indeed most unfortunate that a royal father of the status of the Oba of
Lagos should attempt to drag the revered traditional institution into
partisan politics to the level of threatening innocent Nigerians with
the view to prevent them from freely exercising their constitutionally
guaranteed right.
Our response to the Oba of Lagos is that he
cannot play God and can never be God. God owns the universe and every
part of it and can never share His glory with any human no matter how
highly placed. We therefore call on all Nigerians in Lagos state; all
Igbos, Hausas, Yorubas and people of other tribes; all northerners and
southerners; all Christians and Muslims to turn against this unpatriotic
stance, by coming out enmasse to vote for the PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi
Agbaje on Saturday. Undoubtedly, this anti-Nigeria position
reminds of the 2013 inhuman and callous arrest, detention and eventual
‘deportation’ of non-indigenes by the APC-led government of Lagos state
and confirms fears that the APC is indeed on a mission to destroy our
national unity, balkanize the nation and obliterate the personal freedom
Nigerians enjoy today.
Already, the APC has started terrorizing
supporters of the PDP with vows to make life unbearable for them when it
eventually assumes power. Our investigation reveals that many of our
prominent supporters have been marked. The process has already started
with threats to the life, family and business of the Chairman of the
Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah for
supporting PDP candidates and helping non-indigenes win some Lagos seats
in the National Assembly on the platform of our great party.
Indeed,
if these threats on a duly elected state governor and innocent Nigerians
constitute the picture or foretaste of the order of the day when the
APC finally assumes power at the center, then the nation is in serious
danger. However, the PDP states in very unambiguous terms that Nigerians
would not accept such under any guise whatsoever. This is more so
because in the last 16 years, our citizens from all walks of lives have
seen civility and decorum under the PDP-led administration and would
not accept any attempt by anybody to institute a reign of terror in the
country.
We therefore urge General Muhammadu Buhari as the leader
of the APC to call his members and supporters, particularly in Lagos and
Ekiti to order; especially bearing in mind that it was the peaceful
atmosphere and the level playing ground nurtured by the PDP-led
administration that created the room for his emergence at the
presidential polls. Our country cannot at this moment afford to
slide into anarchy, reign of terror and deliberate schemes to divide the
people for selfish political reasons.
The PDP will completely
resist all anti democratic forces from any quarters. We therefore charge
Nigerians, especially those in Lagos and Ekiti states respectively to
stand up fearlessly and reject the unpatriotic stance of the Oba of
Lagos and the undemocratic move to dismantle the mandate given to
Governor Ayo Fayose by the people.
The above statement was signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh.
No comments:
Post a Comment