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.
Oluranti Idowu Abdulrasheed Lafia Buari Edun Kwara United MINILS Ilorin Central Mosque Kayode Issa Sardauna CCB Charles Ibitoye Tinubu Legacy Forum Bond Folorunsho Alao Taofik Abdulkareem Oke-Oyi Dauda Adeniran Adeshola Demola Banu Sulyman Age AbdulKareem Igosun Na\'Allah Isapa Abdulrazak Shehu Akorede Mahmud Ayinla Giwa Ajibike Katibi Kunle Okeowo Abdulwasiu Bolaji Adeyi Afolabi-Oshatimehin Ilofa Binta Abubakar Mora Gwanara Ben Duntoye Kawu Opolo Global Innovation Limited Razak Atunwa Zubair Folorunsho Erubu Ishaq Abdulkarim Taofik Abiodun Ahmed Sulu Gambari Dan Iya Jimoh Akani Code Of Conduct Riskat Opakunle Idiagbon Joseph Yemi Ajayi UTME Ahmed \'Lateef Ishaq Oloyede Abdulrahman Onikijipa Local Government Forgo Battery Company Limited Arik Funke Adedoyin Jumoke F. Ajao Labaeka Suleiman Abubakar COEASU LEAH Charity Foundation Michael Imoudu National Institute For Labour Studies Magaji Are Olatunji Abdulmumeen TETFUND Olatunji Ayeni Folajimi Aleshinloye Salihu Ajia Umar Yakubu Jaja Yusuf Babatunde Abdulwahab Kamaldeen Gambari Hameed Oladipupo Ali Olayinka Oladapo Jogunola SWAN Special Adviser On Digital Innovation Saka Keji Ajibola Ademola Julius Yekeen Alabi Dumagi Bayo Ajia Abdulrazaq Magaji

