Banner Online News

By Adeyemi Adebayo
Former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, on Monday, 11/2/2019, succumbed to anger and frustration at the Ogun State All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential rally as he threw away the party’s flag.
The party’s presidential campaign rally, which held at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta was a combination of drama, anger and violence.
The drama began when the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole was invited to the podium to speak.
Recall that Oshiomhole and the Governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosu, are supporting different candidates for governorship in the state.
While the party’s candidate is Dapo Abiodun, the governor stands behind his ally Adekunle Akinlade, who after losing the ticket to Abiodun, defected to the Allied Peoples Movement with his 9Amosun’s) backing.
As Oshiomhole spoke, some party supporters began to boo him.
However, the crisis escalated when he mentioned Dapo Abiodun as the party’s governorship candidate in the state. This incensed the crowd who threw stones and water sachets at him.
The plea of the state governor to the crowd not to embarrass the state “in the name of God,” fell on deaf ears as they were unrelenting in hauling missiles at the party’s leadership on the podium.
One of the stones aimed at Oshiomhole, hit one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s security detail who had sheilded him from the flying objects.
In anger at the turn of events, National Party Leader, Tinubu, threw off the party’s flag which was placed beside him and stormed out as the President was addressing the crowd, to sit in his car parked in the President’s convoy.
As he was going to his car, he was followed by some hoodlums who were shouting ‘ole’, ‘ole’, ‘ole ‘ole’ (thief, thief, thief ) after him.
The President also overwhelmed by the event in the stadium, simply told the people to vote the candidate of their choice in the March 2, governorship election.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described the incident as “a direct response by Nigerians to Buhari’s four years misrule as depicted in the expansion of poverty, corruption, divisiveness and bloodletting in our nation.”
A statement by PDP’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan noted that the incident showed that Nigerians have rejected Buhari.
The statement reads: “It is instructive to note that Mr. President was pelted in Abeokuta barely 24 hours after his Zamfara state rally on Sunday, where he attempted to incite Nigerians to join the APC in their planned resort to violence to derail the 2019 general election, having realized that they stand no chance of winning the election.
“The people of Ogun state, and indeed, the South West, have shown that they are in direct alignment with other states and geo-political zones of our country in rejecting President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, whose administration has foisted so much injustice and brought unprecedented pain and anguish to Nigerians.
“Mr. President can now see that Nigerians cannot be bought with N10,000, as he was made to believe by Prof. Osinbajo and members of the cabal in his Presidency.
“After the unpalatable encounters in all his rallies, Mr. President needs no further signal to show him that the people have completely rejected him, despite his false performance indices. Nigerians are determined to deal him a crushing defeat on February 16 by voting en masse for the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as the next President of our
country.
“We therefore urge President Buhari and the APC to read the handwriting on the wall and get ready to accept his inevitable defeat so that Nigerians can have a breath of fresh air under the leadership of Atiku Abubakar, whose campaign has continued to receive rousing reception in all parts of the country.”
• Source: The Next Edition