The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, August 5, 2014 stated that a parallel government will be set up by the party if the 2015 presidential election is rigged.
The statement was made by APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun at the final rally at the Osun state stadium in Osogbo the state capital ahead of the gubernatorial elections holding in the state on Saturday, August 9, 2014.
While making the statement Odigie stated that any attempt to tamper with a single vote in next years election will signify that the battle line has been drawn.
Thisday reports:
According to him, “Nigerians as well as the APC would no longer accept any stolen mandate as people of this great county wants a change in the political dimension in this country.”
Oyegun stated further that Nigerians and the people would no longer be intimidated with the recent deployment of personnel of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) and the military in the nation’s body politics.
The national chairman posited that PDP had started intimidating the people of the state, stating that Governor Rauf Aregbesola must continue with his good work for the good people of the state because “I have seen that
Aregbesola is loved by the people of the state.”
Oyegun therefore warned that the PDP should not make any mistake by causing chaos in the country, saying: “love and orderliness will assist us to develop as a nation and for our respective states as well.”
Also speaking at the event, former Governors of Lagos and Osun States, Bola Tinubu, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Isiaka Adeleke and Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, jointly urged voters in the state not to vote for criminals as well as prisoners that would not bring any meaningful development to the state.
However, the former National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, noted that President Goodluck Jonathan has no leadership qualities that he can use to manage the affairs of the country.
He also remarked that the president has not done anything in the state, saying all efforts would be taken to ensure that PDP did not destabilise the country as well as the state.
Also at the rally, Oyinlola was formally presented with the flag of the APC by Oyegun, where he (Oyinlola) pledged his loyalty and said the people of the state should not vote for selfish person who will not carry them along in the process of governance.
He noted that the PDP candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has no tangible plan for the state, saying he was only looking for his own interest and that of his friends in the party.
Present at the rally were the governors of Ogun, Oyo Edo, Ekiti, Kwara and Imo States, as well as stakeholders in the party.
But the PDP, while commenting on the mega rally held in Osogbo by the APC, described it as a “colossal failure and a jamboree of rented crowd.”
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday, said the rally was “full of hollow and meaningless speeches, symptomatic of a sinking party desperate for survival.
“Nigerians are aware that at the rally was a crowd mobilised from other states to join APC officials who were forced to relocate to Osun State to create an impression of massive support for the party and its candidate.
“However, we invite the APC to note that it is only the people of the state and not their hired crowd and horde of entertainers that will vote on Saturday.”
Noting that a big humiliation awaits the APC, the PDP lampooned the leaders of the opposition party who experienced a foretaste of the bitter fate ahead, when the indigenes of the state booed and jeered at them, calling their party “one-chance bus” as they arrived the state with their rented supporters.
The party once again thanked the people of the state for the support and solidarity shown its candidate, Omisore, while urging them to remain vigilant ahead of the Saturday’s governorship election.
Meanwhile, ahead of the governorship election, the DSS has said it would discharge its duties of providing security without being dragged into politics. The spokesperson of the DSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, said this yesterday in Abuja while fielding questions from journalists at the National Information Centre.
Ogar said the DSS was an agency saddled with the responsibility of providing security for all Nigerians, thereby would not take sides with any political party and group of persons.
“You are aware that there have been a running battle in Osun State and it has to do with the activities of the DSS and the deployment of troops for the election. The DSS is an agency that is for everybody and so we will not take sides with anybody,” she said.
She, however, advised politicians to concentrate on their campaigns and leave the agency to do its job.
“We are advising that Politicians should face their political activities and leave security forces out of their various engagements,” she said.
