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.

Al-Ilory     Mujtabah Bature     Moro     Ethical College     Agboola Abdulraheem     Old Oyo     Bello Abubakar     Valsolar Consultoria     High Court     Abdulrahman Onikijipa     ARMTI     Bilikis Oladimeji     Shonga Farm Project     Sulyman Atolagbe Alege     United Nigeria Airline     Abdulwahab Ololele     Revenue Court     The Herald     Oke-Odo     Ahmad Ali     Olokoba Abdullahi Ayinla     Lukman Oyebanji Fagbemi     Ejidongari     Isiaq Khadeejah     Chief Imam Of Omu-Aran     Yahaya Seriki     Dar-Al-Handasah Consultants     FOMWAN     Salihu Ajibola Ajia     Muhammad Yahya     Mohammed Yisa     Yusuf Zulu-Gambari     Abdulrasheed Na\'Allah     Irepodun     Peter Obi     Muslim Stakeholders Of Kwara State     Prince Sunday Fagbemi     Osinbajo     Muftau Akanbi Oke     Yahaya Oloriegbe     David Adesina     Pategi     Muhammadu Buhari     Afolabi-Oshatimehin     Ariyo     VADA     Ilorin Metro Park     Ibrahim Kayode Adeyemi     Sarafadeen Kayode Akorede     Sulyman Abdulkareem     Isaac Aderemi Kolawole     Bello Oyedepo     Rebecca Olanrewaju     Asa LGEA School     Press Release     Omoniyi M. Ayinla     Balogun Fulani     Adegoke Bamidele     Ramat Oganija     Mahmud Babatunde Baker     Aliyu Alhassan     Baruten     Kolo     Yekini Adio     Kale Bayero     Dan Masanin     Ballah     Muritala Awodun     Yusuf Mubarak     Aliyu Kora-Sabi     Tunji Oyawoye     Col. Adedipe     Pius Abioje     Buari Edun     University Road     HYPPADEC     Colleges Of Education Academic Staff Union    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

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

Awili Pedro     Baba Isale     Ayekale     Rasheed Jimoh     Iyeru Grammar School     Yusuf Lanre Badmus     Iyabo Dupe Adekeye     Maja     Mustapha Akanbi     Michael Nzekwe     Ashiru     Muslim Media Watch Group Of Nigeria     Abdulrazaq Sanni     Salihu Alhaji Musa     Abubakar Baba Sulaiman     Ramadhan     Dele Belgore     Aishatu Ahmed Gobir     Chief Of Staff     Sun Qing Rong     Abdulhakeem Amao     Ishola Balogun Fulani     Asiwaju Bola Tinubu     Aliyu Alhassan     Okeose Christian Cementary     Lasiele Alabi Yahaya     Muhammad-Mustapha Suleiman     Ojuekun Sarumi     Aiyedun     Bankole Omisore     Ilorin General Hospital     Local Government Pension Board     Logun     Ajasse-Ipo     FOMWAN     Zulu Gambari     Wole Oke     Iyaloja-General     Saidu Yaro Musa     David Adesina     Yakubu Gobir     Apata Ajele Secondary School     Suwa-Arabs     Mohammed Jimoh Faworaja     Ahmad Olanrewaju Belgore     Nurudeen Muhammed     Mopelola Abdulmaliq-Bashir     Senate President     Aliyu Umar     Yusuf Mubarak     Nigeria Foundation For Artificial Intelligence     Sa\'adu Salau     Amusement Park     Sa\'adu Salahu     Oniye     Amuda Bembe     Sidikat Uthman Ajibola     Ramadan     Olayinka Oladapo Jogunola     Sulaiman Gado     Leke Ogungbe     Kwara State Governor     Buari Edun     Kwara 2015     Shehu Alimi Foundation For Peace And Development     Memunat Monsuma     IPSAS     Oba Abdulrahim     Al-Adaby     Omu-aran     Oyelere Oyinloye     Iyabo Adewuyi     Abdulfatah Ahmed     Surajudeen Akanbi     Ajia-Bako     Ajibola Saliu Ajia     Wahab Kunle Shittu