How Same People Attend Parties' Rallies
If it was not due to poverty, it could not be divorced from ignorance of political education the rate at which the same set of faces attend different political rallies in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
ome women are guiltier of this seeming gullible political attitude, as they attend political rallies at will without necessarily identifying with any particular party.
Whether it is the All Progressives Congress (APC), People's Democratic Party (PDP) or of late, Labour Party (LP), these "party supporters" are the first to grace the occasion, shouting the slogans of the party with fervour.
The development is making it cumbersome for political analysts in the state to make predictions on the party with the largest number of supporters, based on gatherings at rallies.
But the side event on last Tuesday, March 17 when the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience visited Ilorin "to see women supporters of the PDP"exposed some of these ubiquitous politicians.
The alleged "mobilisation fees" shared among those who attended the event led to physical and verbal assaults as many of them were later discovered not to be card carrying members of the party.
According to one of them who identified herself as 'Asmau' from Pakata Area of Ilorin,"they asked us to come and queue for money as early as eight in the morning, and we had to come because money is precious.
"But after waiting for almost five hours under a scorching sun, they told some of us that we are not PDP members because we could not produce our identity cards. As far as we are concerned, we don't belong to any political party, we only attend events for the honorarium that are being given us. That is what we consider as democratic dividends."
The dust generated as a result of the development almost marred the event as the women created a scene, shouting and threatening the blockade of the road leading into and out of the venue of the programme, if not given their own shares.
The Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Chief Rex Olawoye denied the incident, calling it a cheap blackmail that could not determine where the pendulum of electoral success would swing.
"If the interpretation is that we hired crowd, we shall see at the end of the day. We are PDP and I want everybody to note that."
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