OPINION: Operation Restore Kwara: An Update On The Just Concluded Continuous Voters Registration. By Abdullahi Imam

Date: 2014-08-30

The continuous voters' registration has come and gone. On behalf of all of us here at the Kwara Restoration Project, I will like to congratulate all freedom and change loving Kwarans for trooping out in their thousands to register to vote. This is the first step in Operation Restore Kwara.

The ruling APC however, demonstrated panic and anxiety when it dawned on them that the majority of the people on the queue were registering to vote for freedom and change which ironically they can only find in the PDP at the moment.

Because of their rejection by the good people of Kwara, the ruling APC unleashed a lot of their election rigging machinery on the citizenry. The strategies they adopted ranged from bribing of INEC ad hoc staff members, bribing of the police and outright violence on ordinary Kwarans who refused to kowtow to their demands.

The chairman of the opposition PDP, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo in his address to the press on Friday, 22 August, 2014 stated inter alia "in Baruten LGA, officials of the state government aware of their inability to manipulate the process (in Baruten) instigated violence and induced the ad hoc staff members of the INEC with money to perpetuate their illegalities"

Akogun Oyedepo went on to further give specific instances "in Edu LGA, the commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs and a special assistant to the Governor of Kwara state, James Wangwa, instigated violence and induced INEC officials with money in Edu. In Kaiama LGA, a former commissioner for women affairs who is presently a Commissioner II at the local government service commission, illegally cornered a polling unit to her residence until the resistance of PDP members subdued her. In Irepodun, the present commissioner for finance tried to induce PDP agents with money to allow him take possession of the PVC cards but he was rebuffed by patriotic Kwarans... one Mr. Alege, a serving commissioner came to the polling centres with his well-known thugs and started using bottles, stones, cutlasses and guns to scare and disperse the voters. But for the timely intervention of the security agencies, the situation would not have been brought under control".

Our field officers at the Kwara Restoration Project also witnessed a case of assault at Oju Ekun/Sarumi Ward by an APC agent, one Alhaja Iyabo Ile Olodo. This APC agent in company of other APC agents Sulaiman Alabidun Okunniyi, Khadijat Oju Ekun, Alhaja Silifat, Alhaja Risikat Nageri and Mosere Nasiru alias Agenda assaulted an opposition PDP agent, Alhaja Segilola and she ended up hospitalized from her injuries. There was also a separate incident in Ogidi where one Yemisi Babatunde, a PDP supporter was brutalized by APC thugs still at large.

Despite all these provocation and flagrant assault by APC thugs, their sponsors and collaborators, we at the Kwara Restoration Project congratulate the good people of Kwara for your resilience even in the face of intimidation. Because you resisted the forces of darkness and stood firm in your demand for freedom and real change, you, the average Kwaran, have given all of us hope. And because of your optimism and zeal, we believe that we shall overcome.

Abdullahi Imam Abdullahi writes from Ilorin

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Harrison Osauwagboe     Okanlawon Taiwo     Rapheal Ashaolu     Zainab Abass     Majlis For Sadakah, Zakat And Waqf     Kale Ayo     Sabitiyu Grillo     Adamu B. Yaqubu     Sabi     Ahmad Belgore     Raheem Adaramaja     Baba Issa Awoye     Salami Adekunle     Esinrogunjo     Garba Idris Ajia     Oko-Olowo     Yahya Mohammed     Titus Suberu-Ajibola     Adisa Logun     Nigerian Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs     Mohammed Katsina Ahmed     Elerinjare     Okala Baba     AbdulRahman Saad     Forgo Battery Company Limited     Saliu Ajibola Ajia     Bello John Olanrewaju     Mopelola Abdulmaliq-Bashir     Agboola Abdulraheem     Ibrahim Akaje     Kola Adesina     Sadiq Umar     Waheed Ibrahim     Opobiyi     Taofeek Sanusi     Laboratory-to-Product     Okoolowo     Funmilayo Oniwa     Kwara State Fish Farmers Association     Anilelerin     Tinubu Legacy Forum     Abdullahi AbdulMajeed     Segun Abifarin     Ola Falade     Timothy Akangbe     Babaita     Twitter     Basit Olatunji     Elesie Of Esie     Egbewole     Ilorin General Hospital     Babs Iwarere     Amosa     Ojo Isekuse     Oyelere Oyinloye     Ilorin Curfew     Lithium     Akeem Lawal     Yusuf Abdulkadir     Ajia-Bako     KWASIEC     Khadijat Ayoola Yusuf     Javed Khan     Olawuyi     Shuaib Abdulkadir     Aishat Mohammed Lawal     Marafan Shonga     Gafaru Olayiwola Olorisade     Idowu Aremu     Bareke     Christopher Ayeni     Special Adviser On Digital Innovation     Ahmad Ali     Alikinla     Olatunji Bamgbola     Olabode Towoju     Moses Salami    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Saliu Mustapha     Veterinary Teaching Hospital     Leke Ogungbe     Oniwasi Agbaye     Babatunde Idiagbon     Kulende     Yusuf Arowosaye     Kwha.gov.ng     Gambari     Communication Network Support Services     Asa LGEA School     Olayinka Jelili Yusuf     Clara Nwachukwu     Abdulwahab Oba     Crystal Corner Shops     Abdulkadir Bolakale Sakariyah     Sulyman Tejidini     GGDSS Pakata     Mazars Consulting     Moro     Bluenile Associates     Obuh     Ibrahim Abdulkadir Abikan     ITEM 7     Tanke Road     Amada Jidda     Imam Gambari     TIIDELab     Ganmo Power Sub-Station     Elerin Of Erin-Ile     John Mayokun Dada     Saka Adeyemo     Chief Of Staff     Mumeen Lah     Binta Abubakar-Mora     Idris Amosa Oladipo Saidu     Kola Ologbondiyan     Amusement Park     Kayode Bankole     Titus Suberu-Ajibola     Ajikobi     Saadatu Modibbo-Kawu     Idris Garuba     Aliyu Sabi     Abubakar Bature Sulu-Gambari     Riskat Opakunle     Olaiya Zuberu     Olusin Of Ijara Isin     Ubandoma Of Ilorin     Abdulkadri Ahmad Alaiye     Peter Obi     Zainab Abass     Mohammed Saidu     Halimat Yusuf     Muslim Media Watch Group Of Nigeria     TVC Female National Debate     Oasis Muslim Care Foundation     Kwara State Governor     Afin Descendants Union Of Odo-Owa     Farouk Salim     Kamaldeen Ajibade     Rasheed Jimoh     Shonga     Ibrahim Akaje     Sambo Murtala     Bayo Ojo     Air Peace     Tsaragi     Ramadan     Sheikh Ridhwanullah El-ilory     Timothy Olatunde Fadipe     Yahaya Muhammad     Hassan Taiye Salam     Fareedah Dankaka     Joshua Adeyemi Adimula     Offa Metropolitan Club     Olajumoke Monsura Gafar