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.

Reuben Paraje     Nnazua     Raji Ayodele Kamaldeen     Mohammed Abdulahi     Mohammed Kamaludeen     Rasaq Jimoh     Ojuekun     MINILS     Abdulwahab Oba     George Funsho Adebayo     Kwara Basketball Association     Yoruba     Abubakar Kawu Baraje     Yusuf Babatunde Abdulwahab     Lai Mohammed     Diagnostic Centre     Kulende-UITH     Igbomina     Kwara Teaching Service Commission     Ike Ekweremadu     AGF Abdulrazaq     Kwara Central     Ilorin West/Asa Federal Constituency     Code Of Conduct     Mustapha Olanipekun     Abdul-Rahoof Bello     Dogara     Yusuf Amuda Aluko     Maryam A. Garuba     Peter Obi     Yusuf Mubarak     Tanke Flyover Bridge     Mohammed Haruna     Metro Park     National Association Of Nigerian Students     Ibraheem Adeola Katibi     Dairo Kunle Paul     Rafiu Ajakaye     Bolakale Ayo     Yakub Lai Gobir     Razaq Ayobami Akanbi     SWAN     Dan Iya     Garba Idris Ajia     Muhammad Mustapha Suleiman     Mike Omotosho     Elections     Abubakar B.M     Rebecca Bake     Aro Yahaya     Olatunde Olukoya     Kanu Agabi     Elerin Of Adanla Irese     Sarkin Malamai     Mutawali     Sa\'adu Salahu     Abdulganiyu AbdulAzeez     Ajasse-Ipo     Farouk Salim     Wahab Egbewole     Deji Ajani     Christopher Odetunde     Sheriff Olanrewaju     Abdullahi Saadudeen Alikinla     Ministry Of Women Affairs And Social Development     Binta Abubakar-Mora     Offa Poly     Just Event Online     CUTI     Federal College Of Education (Special), Afon     Jamila Bio Ibrahim     Igosun     Ajibike Katibi     Share-Tsaragi     Hassan A. Saliu     Ilorin Curfew     Cornelius Adebayo    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

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

Abdulbaqi Jimoh     Isiaka Oniwa     Kwasu     Maigida Soludero Transit     Kazeem Gbolagade     Damilola Yusuf     Kwara Restoration Project     Ilorin Emirate Staff Association     Aremu Bose Deborah     Gafaru Olayiwola Olorisade     Aso-ofi     IYA YUSUF     Victor Gbenga Yusuf     Ilorin Curfew     Sambo Murtala     Jalala     Mike Omotosho     Air Peace     UTME     Principal Private Secretary     Abdullahi Biffo     Saeedat Aliyu     NYSC     Michael Ologundea     Savannah Centre For Diplomacy, Democracy And Development     Jide Ashonibare     Sobi Specialist Hospital     Salary     Farouk Salim     Doyin Awoyale     Metro Park     Taofik Abdulkareem     Baba Issa     Okasanmi Ajayi     Obasanjo     Maryam Ado Bayero     Kayode Issa     Oya State     Adamu Ibrahim Sabi     Sunday Popo-Ola     Shettima     Folorunsho Alao     Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia     Bukola Saraki     Admiralty Villa     Oniyangi     Monkey Pox     Bayo Onimago     Student Learning Support Helpline     Kawu Baraje     Abdulrahman Abdullahi Kayode     Amada Jidda     AGILE Programme     Kola Shittu     Imam Gambari     KWASIEC     Sa\'adu Salau     Rex Olawoye     NIRSAL     Nigeria Association Of Women Journalists     Haliru Yahaya     Muritala Awodun     Bluenile Associates     Igbomina     Medinat Folorunsho Salman     Ibrahim Taiwo     Ebola     Yemi Osinbajo     Bola Shagaya     Kola Adesina     Tayo Alao     Adesoye     Gbemisola Oguntimehin     Kwara State Geographic Information Service     Bello Abubakar     Olateju Lukman     Wasiu Onidugbe