13th April 2009. Press Release.
PDP IS THE ONE THAT WANTS TO SET EKITI ON FIRE”-LAGOS AC REPLIES FILANI.
The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress has told Mr. Ishola Filani a PDP stalwart that rather than the AC, it is the PDP, which through its desperation, that wants to ensure that war is declared on Ekiti State for the purpose of re-stealing the state after its stolen mandate was voided by the courts. It wants Mr. Filani and the PDP to explain why they feel that it is only through the help of the army that it feels the PDP can win Ekiti State in the remaining 64 of the 173 wards.
In a release in Lagos, signed by the party’s Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the AC, Joe Igbokwe, Lagos AC says that by trying to blackmail the AC when they are making desperate and elaborate plans to forcefully rig the Ekiti re-run, the PDP is demonstrating an infantile tactics to cow the AC and warns that such will not work in Ekiti. It tells the PDP to go to Ekiti and canvass for votes instead of thinking that having been rejected by the Ekiti people, it will steal its ways to power through the use of troops.
“Could the PDP and indeed Filani tell Nigerians why the deployment of troops is so paramount in a make-up election in 64 wards? Could they tell us when deployment of troops has become an integral part of our electoral process if not as an instrument the PDP employs to cow other parties, visit persecution, threats and illegal actions on the opposition while it provides shield for the PDP to carry out unimaginable electoral robbery? Could the apostles of troops deployment tell us when military men have now become such an attractive offer that the PDP feels must be forcefully made part of our democracy?
“Filani and the PDP know that they never won the 2007 elections and that the AC overwhelmingly won. They know that as it stands now, the AC owns the game in Ekiti State and that the AC holds a more than 12,000 votes advantage in votes cast so far in two-thirds of the wards in Ekiti State. Filani and the PDP knows that PDP members are defecting in droves to the AC in Ekiti State and they fear such massive defection portends the most embarrassing electoral defeat for them in Ekiti State, which is why they are desperate to militarize Ekiti State and ensure they ignite crises in Ekiti as a precursor to another mindless electoral fraud, as they did in April 2007. It is this same trick and desperacy that that noted political turncoat extra-ordinaire, Dayo Adeyeye has elevated to a political mantra in the fight of his life against a certain political oblivion.
“We want to let Filani know that AC’s position on the Ekiti re-run is clear and candent; let the votes count and whoever rigs must have himself to blame. That means we believe on electoral sanity of one man, one vote and also that we would not indulge in rigging. This makes troops deployment not only unnecessary as Ekiti is going to the polls and not to war. We wonder why they should be afraid of this resolve and why they would not freely mouth this commitment to sane electoral sanity but would be hoping that they need warships and gunboats to win Ekiti State. We want them to note that Ekiti is not at war with anybody. We want them to seize the moment if they are indeed popular in Ekiti State and whereby they believe that it is with only troops that they will conquer Ekiti people, we warn them that they will fail woefully, as they failed in retaining the mandate they callously stole from Ekiti people on April 14, 2007.
“The AC is committed to free, transparent and clean electoral practice that would pass biometric, forensic and physical tests and we believe that electoral riggers are not fit to live. If the PDP is committed to such lofty ideals, let them voice it out than feeling threatened by our commitment to ensure that electoral fraud is not made an acceptable practice in Nigeria. If the Ekiti people are sure that the people of Ekiti people really tolerate and accept them, why are they so desperate to employ soldiers to rig elections? Let the PDP accept the fact that they are impostors in Ekiti State and indeed the entire South West. Let them accept that their fraudulent tenancy has expired and stop thinking that they would sustain their illegal stay with the use of force. They will fail woefully as is becoming real now.”
Joe Igbokwe.
Publicity Secretary,
Lagos AC.
