OPINION: Operation Restore Kwara: An Update On The Just Concluded Continuous Voters Registration. By Abdullahi Imam
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.
Labour Party Madawaki Abdulbaqi Jimoh Afolabi-Oshatimehin Alaro Adesoye College Reuben Paraje Riskat Opakunle Mamman Saba Jibril Tunji Folami Bank Of Industry Quran Abiodun Musa Aibinu Bayo Mohammed Onimode Erubu Oba Zubair Onilupeju Of Ilupeju ASMAU PLAZA Alaiye Issa Manzuma Joshua Adeyemi Adimula Idi-Ape MalHub Rafiu Ibrahim Ibrahim Abdulqadir Abikan Borgu Chief Of Staff Adedayo Yusuf Abdulkareem Bisi Oyeleke Akande Idowu Ayoola Muhammed Wahab Agbaje Mashood Abdulrafiu Agboola Emmanuel Bello Samuel Adedoyin Kayode Ishola Christopher Tunji Ayeni Salihu Jibril Garbi Haleeman Salman Kayode Oyin-Zubair Olabimpe Olani Olawuyi Halidu Danbaba Ghali Muhammed Kwara State Coalition Of Business And Professional Associations Ita-Nmo Market Ilesha Gwanara Road HICA Ekiti Amina El-Imam General Hospital Abdulrahman Abdulrazak Jeunkunu-Malete-Bani Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq Moronfoye The Herald Air Peace Ajidagba Oniwa Ilorin Amusement Park Federal Polytechnic Offa Dar-Al-Handasah Consultants Ltd Amuda Aluko Sadiq Buhari Crystal Corner Shops Mahmud Durosinlohun Atiku Dasuki Belgore Baruba Amoyo Islamic Development Bank Galadiman Ngeri Oro Grammar School Old Students Association Muhammad Mustapha Suleiman Oniye Ishaq Salman Tunde Idiagbon Road Leke Ogungbe Oba-Solagberu Lasiele Alabi Yahaya

