Today’s rally of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at Mapo Hall in Ibadan will go on, the police said yesterday.
The CPC and the Oyo State government were yesterday engaged in a war of words over the rally
"They (the CPC) have applied and we will give them security," Oyo State Police Commissioner Adisa Bolanta told our reporter.
He added: "The command is prepared for the rally. Other parties have held their own rallies and we provided security. This one will not be an exception."
But the Oyo State government said: "We are shocked that the CPC is roping in the Oyo State government in a straight forward administrative muddle it created for itself.
"We are even bemused that Pastor Tunde Bakare is threatening that his party must hold its rally at Mapo Hall tomorrow (today), when the same party booked for last Friday only to change its mind that the rally will now hold on Monday when Ibadan Holding Company in charge of the Hall had already allocated that date to another client planning to host the President’s wife on Tuesday.
"We chose to believe that the man of God must have been misquoted."
The statement was signed by Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala’s Special Adviser on communications Prince Dotun Oyelade.
Buhari’s spokesman Yinka Odumakin, in a statement in Ibadan yesterday, said: "Having complied with all regulations known to the laws of the land, the rally would hold at the planned venue. As far as our party is concerned, we would not submit to the intimidation of the ruling PDP in the state.
"They (the PDP) have denied us venues in Niger and Adamawa states. There comes a time when ‘enough is enough’. We ask President Jonathan to hold the leash on his attack dogs as it smacks of hypocrisy for him to be pretending to be calling peace parleys with other presidential candidates while his agents are working against peace."
Odumakin added: "We wish to sound it loud and clear again that all these shenanigans will not stop the Buhari/Bakare hurricane that is blowing away the umbrella of deception all over Nigeria. Our party sees the development as a continuation of the abuse of incumbency by the Jonathan administration, which he (Jonathan) claimed has buried ‘the rule of law’ mantra with the remains of his predecessor.
"We want Nigerians to help us ask if Mrs. Jonathan will ask somebody not to hold a wedding ceremony at an event centre because she intends using the place the following day if she were a private citizen."
Faulting the claim by the Akala administration that the CPC caused the problem by changing the date of its political rally, Odumakin made available receipts to show that the CPC validly booked the venue for today.
"Governor Alao-Akala added a ridiculous dimension to the whole saga when he lied that the hiccup was because we changed our rally date," he said.
"The attached receipts from Ibadan Local Governments Properties Co. Limited, the official managers of Mapo Hall, showed the date CPC booked Mapo Hall and the subsequent official acceptance of CPC use of Mapo Hall on the new rally date as 14th March 2011. This contradicts the false account of the Oyo State government," he added.
Bakare gave an insight into the political strategy of his party to harvest votes from the Southwest when he refuted suggestions that the zone is only open to the ACN. He said the zone, being highly enlightened, is open to all and it would depend on strategies adopted by the parties hoping to access the huge votes available. He said his party would not rely on conventional methods of rallies for its campaign in the zone, but would devise other means of addressing smaller groups and emphasising the change element in its programme.
On the allegation that CPC promotes violence, especially in the North, Bakare said the PDP was merely chasing shadows and attempting to defend itself.
He said: "Is the CPC responsible for the violence in Bayelsa? Was CPC responsible for the stampede in Port-Harcourt where a lot of people died as a result of the overzealousness of security agents? God helped them that they have not come face-to-face with the revenge and revolt of the poor.
"I am an eye witness to history. The governor of Borno State withdrew all the buses that were meant to welcome us. The people trekked, they ran, they came on okada. From the airport, it took us four hours to get to the palace of the Shehu of Borno. These people they call violent did not cause any disturbance at the palace, but they cannot stop anything called PDP. As far as we are concerned, we are preaching peace, but the people are exhibiting against PDP."
Bakare also dismissed permutations that suggest that there could be a run-off which will make an alliance of opposition parties possible. He said: "Some already are thinking of a runoff, but we think and we are optimistic that we will win in the first ballot. Where we don’t win, we have assurances from appropriate quarters that they will support our bidding and we have built that across the different parties and I can assure you I don’t want to go further because I don’t want to deny what I have said."
Speaking in his church yesterday in Lagos, Bakare, who reiterated that the Ibadan campaign would go on as planned, said: "By the magnitude of the crowd that turned up at the rallies, it appears to me that the North has already chosen its president. Will you choose him also?" he asked his church members.
Bakare described President Jonathan’s campaign as "extravagant" and a "farewell party".
"Jonathan is having a farewell party; farewell sightseeing. If they try to rig this election, I challenge them that they dare not," he said
Bakare said the alliance talks between CPC and ACN was alive. He insisted that "the talks are still on (but) everybody wants to do it his own way".
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com