Rising Siege to Opposition Parties, Dims Hope 2019 Election will be Fair
Earlier indication that candidates of the opposition parties will get a fair deal in the run up to the 2019 election now appears to be dimming as concerted efforts to frustrate their campaigns take a...
Earlier indication that candidates of the opposition parties will get a fair deal in the run up to the 2019 election now appears to be dimming as concerted efforts to frustrate their campaigns take a new turn. This seems to fly in the face of the resolve by the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu to conduct a free, fair and credible election.
Even as the world marks the Human Rights Day on Monday, ten supporters of the African Action Congress (AAC), one of the new parties, were arrested by the Police for embarking on a peaceful protest to demand the release of six party members that were earlier arrested for pasting campaign posters of Mr Omoyele Sowore, their party’s presidential candidate.
This is coming days after the account of Mr Peter Obi, running mate to the People’s Democratic Party candidate presidential Candidate and that of his wife were frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), raising fears that the All Progressive Congress (APC) government of Mr Muhammadu Buhari will not be even handed with opposition candidates.
Former Vice President and Candidate of the PDP, Mr Atiku Abubakar is seen as Buhari’s main challenger for the presidency in the 2019 election. Many are surprised that Obi who’s reputed for his sterling qualities as governor of Anambra state from 2006 – 2014 is now suddenly a victim of EFCC siege.
Last Tuesday, a bus filled with students’ supporters of Sowore was stopped in Awka, Anambra state with all the students arrested by the security personnel of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK). The students were harassed by the security and made to write implicating statements. The activists in UNIZIK were later issued verbal queries and compelled to give a written reply.
About 11 days ago, the campaign posters of Mr Jimi Agbaje, the PDP candidate in Lagos state were also removed and torn to shreds in a brazen manner by people suspected to be supporters of the ruling APC .
Also on November 11, Mr Abubakar’s plane was thoroughly searched by security officials just as he landed Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja from a trip to Dubai.
The AAC members picketed the entrance of the Area F Police Station in Ikeja, Lagos. But few minutes into the protest, the Police fired teargas multiple times, injuring some of the protesters. One of the protesters, Okoh-Oboh Omotese Annabelle, was also shot in the leg.
Six members of the AAC were earlier arrested for pasting posters at 2:30am in the early hours of Sunday by security officials of the Area F command of the Nigerian Police. Those arrested include Mr Olagokun Odunayo, Mr Kool-Kloud Henry, Mr Ugaju Joseph, Mr Damilola Omidiji, Mr Michael Kate and Banwo Olagokun who volunteered to paste the posters of Sowore.
They were subjected to a humiliating experience and detained in inhuman conditions by the Police. Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr Imohinmi Edgal says the AAC activists committed a crime by pasting posters in the wee hours. He also said they were defacing posters of other candidates.
Although the AAC supporters have been granted bail while their case has been adjorned to February 2nd, the Sowore Campaign says, “All these confirm that we are living under a desperate police seige. It is clear to all that the APC regime is not in any way prepared to allow a free and fair democratic election because of their fear of defeat and desperation to continue with the reign of plunder.”
“What is certain is that the Nigerian masses and youth would never give up to oppression and slavery. We shall continue to defend and fight for our rights until victory is achieved,” it says.
“These highly condemnable actions of agents of the state only confirm the kind of electoral process that has been planned by this regime. It is definitely one of imposition and rigging which has already started with this criminal harassment. We will never allow them to get away with this criminal plots of arrests and intimidation. We fought for the democratic rights and we will continue to defend them.”
Also condemning the Police action, Sowore’s running mate, Dr Rabiu Ahmed Rufai, says, “The right to protest is a right guaranteed by the constitution of Nigeria and it is terrifying to see that it is the Police that is meant to be enforcing the law are those breaking it.”
“I strongly condemn the use of force against peaceful protesters and subsequent arrest of our party’s supporters and members who were merely exercising their rights. Not only were they arrested; they were molested, brutalized and shot at.”
“As the world celebrates #HumanRightsDay, I call for the Nigeria Police to operate within the full ambit of the law and desist from oppressing law abiding citizens who only have their voice as their only weapons to stand for the truth.”
Urging the Nigerian people “to join African Action Congress to build the Nigeria we want for ourselves,” Rufai asked them to “Use your vote, which is your power, to send the oppressors, political jobbers out of power and elect the vibrant and forward thinking members of AAC led by Omoyele Sowore.” “The People United Will Never Be Defeated,” he said.
The Socialist Workers and Youth League (SWL) in a statement by Mr Lai Brown which also condemns the arrest, says it is an “Attack on Democracy”.
“The arrest of the Take it Back/AAC members yesterday while pasting the party’s campaign materials is a clear indication that the government have no regards for the democratic principles. These arrested TiB/AAC members did not violate any law, because they were posting the posters on public spaces in accordance with the provision of INEC and LASAA of Lagos State. Clearly their only crime is that they are conscious Nigerians seeking for real political alternatives and a departure from the bosses’ neoliberal exploitative system.”
“The attack on the TIB/AAC shows that the oppressive government and cohorts are getting cold feet already for the alternatives the party are orgainising with. Equally they are more afraid of the social changes the influx of conscious working people can bring to the party and to the nation at large.”
“This shows that the bosses are resolved to use the state machineries to intimidate working people seeking for real social changes from below. It further established our position the current democracy which is the bourgeois democracy that place the control of public institutions in the hands of the few, thereby undermining the interest of the majority working people is a failure.” “Only a workers’ democracy that place these institutions and resources under the democratic control of the working people can work”.
But Abia State chapter of the APC has also raised the alarm over the destruction and defacing of campaign posters of President Buhari and the governorship candidate of the party in the state, Dr. Uche Ogah within Umuahia, the state capital.
Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Benedict Godson has accused the ruling PDP of master minding the defacing and destruction of the campaign posters.
Warning that the party would no longer watch the ruling party in the state using hoodlums to destroy campaign posters of the President, its governorship candidate and any other candidate of the party, the APC said that anybody caught engaging in the wicked act would be dealt with according to the law. According to Godson, the defacing of its candidates’ campaign posters is a sign that the ruling party is defeated already.
“I want to advice our brothers in the opposition party that this is not the way that democracy is being played. I believe that they have seen that we have come to take over the state and I want to plead with them to gently hand over the mantle of leadership of Abia State to Dr. Sampson Uche Ogah who has come to liberate Abia from bondage come 2019.”
“Destruction of billboards and posters Mr. President, Uche Ogah and other candidates of the party is undemocratic and that cannot stop us from returning Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari who has done so well in terms of good roads, constant light, better life for Nigerians and Uche Ogah as both President and governor of the country and Abia State respectively.
“It is important to say that the PDP government that we have in Abia State has failed Abians in all ramifications. They owe teachers from primary to tertiary. The roads that they claim that they have built have caved in and they cannot justify the amount of money they claimed to have spent on such roads.”
“The little that we are seeing in the state is being built by the Federal Government through the NDDC. We want to assure them that nobody has monopoly of violence and destruction of posters. We are warning the PDP to stop the destruction of our candidates’ campaign posters with immediate effect,” said Godson.
