The National Leader of the Action
Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said the Rivers State and
the Nigeria Governors’ Forum crises are a presage of what will happen in
the coming 2015 elections.
He, therefore, condemned the crises and
the underlying forces behind them, saying such would only turn “an
imperfect democracy into a perfect mess.”
The former Governor of Lagos State, in a
statement on Sunday, accused President Goodluck Jonathan of
masterminding the crisis in Rivers State.
Tinubu, who described the crisis as an
“assault on the constitution,” explained that the crisis showed the
failure of the Peoples Democratic Party to promote democracy in the
country.
He said, “However, we all know the truth
but most are afraid to speak. There is no way the police and small
number of five lawmakers would act so brazenly, unless they receive
instructions from their high places, attempted to impeach the Speaker.
Nigerians must ask: Is this way the
President Jonathan intends to transform Nigeria? By turning it from an
imperfect democracy into a perfect mess?
“In some ways, this Rivers episode is
not surprising. What happened in the Rivers House is one more reminder.
PDP leaders hold democracy in contempt and will trample on it, if given
the slightest opportunity. If they invert the relatively small numbers
involved in the Nigerian Governors Forum and the Rivers State House,
what they might do to general elections involving such a large
population as ours is a hard piece of wood to chew.”
According to him, the crisis showed that security cannot be guaranteed in the coming elections.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Labour Congress
has dissociated itself from the planned mass protest being organised by
the Rivers State Government and some civil society organisations over
the political crisis in the state.
The union said it would not participate in the protest, but did not give any reason for its decision.
Secretary-General of the congress, Chris
Uyot, said the NLC had no plan to join the planned street protests,
noting that the congress had not taken a definite position on the matter
for now.
“From my findings at the Rivers State NLC council, there is no plan to join the street protest,” Uyot said on Sunday.
The Secretary-General, Trade Union
Congress, Musa Lawal, also said the national leadership of the
organisation had yet to take a position on the planned protest.
“The state council is free to
participate in the protest; the national leadership is yet to take a
position on it, but we are having a meeting tomorrow (Monday) and
several issues will be discussed then,” he said over the telephone
Labour unions in the state were reported
to have pledged to join the strike and possibly asked workers to go on
indefinite strike.
The unions had insisted that apart from
the Federal Government and the state government finding a solution to
the impasse in the state House of Assembly, the police must also vacate
the Obio/Akpor Local Government Secretariat.
In a statement in Abuja on Sunday, the
party said the ACN call was an indication that the opposition party was
indeed unserious, lacked direction and only sought to distabilise the
polity.
Though Okeke said the PDP was not in
support of the fracas witnessed in the Rivers State House of Assembly
recently, but he added that brawls were “common features in parliaments
across the world”, and wondered how the recent fray in the Assembly
could translate into an impeachable offence on the part of the
President.
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Tunubu is you and your party that is fuelling the whole thing because of you peoples selfish gain, that is politics for you, you are already predicting evil towards and ahead of 2015. You leaders both the present and the past she learn how to confess good thing for our country because the power of death and life is in the tongue therefore, how you use it matters a lot rather let's confess hope and not negative no matter the challenges we are having
ReplyDeleteTinubu of all people? hmm
ReplyDelete