A former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olabode George, has berated the reported threat currently being issued against voters of Igbo extraction in Lagos.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Monday, George expressed displeasure at the audacity displayed by those behind the threat.
This was as he called on citizens of the state to go out and vote in the governorship election on March 11, pointing out that adequate security will be provided for them.
He said, ‘As we speak, there are grand designs to provoke the peace-loving Nigerians, whose resolve is to effect change through the ballot box on Saturday, as threats are being issued against voters suspected to be willing to vote against incumbency. For the avoidance of doubt, a particular video has gone virile, on the social media, which showed a weird character, suspected to be one of the agents of the state, threatening ‘brimstone and fire’ against anybody, particularly of South-East extraction (Igbo), to dare come out on election day to vote for the Labour Party. In the words of the state agent in the video clip, ‘It’s either Sanwo Olu or nothing in Lagos’
‘To this disposition, we, the Omo Eko Pataki, say it is the most heinous crime against humanity in this 21st century, and condemn such in all its entirety.’
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He went further to add; ‘We ask, who gave these characters the institutional authority and powers to query the right of Nigerians to exercise their civic responsibility? We reject this divisive politics of annihilation of innocent Nigerians, which seek to create anarchy and provoke anger of the citizenry. We wish to remind all the non-Lagosian agents of the Lagos State Government, that Nigerians have lived together in peace, irrespective of any political party in power.
‘We equally urge the electorate in Lagos to go out in their numbers on Saturday, to vote against the plundering that has bedeviled our prosperous state for over two decades as adequate security is assured to everyone out to exercise their civic responsibility.
‘Lagos has remained a best example of a conquered territory where an Iragbiji native dwells like an obscene Persian monarch determining who becomes a councillor, who becomes a local government chairman, who becomes a House of Assembly member, who becomes a Representative, a senator and a governor. All these he does by compromising all agencies and organs of state, including the electoral commission itself.’
‘We also call on INEC to ensure the use of transformational BVAS regime, for the transparency of the exercise, a departure from the February 25 archaic system, where result sheets were moved manually from polling units.’
Africa Today News, New York reports that there has been tension in the state ahead of Saturday’s polls.