Protests in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra over attack on Fayose

• PDP urges IGP to curb the excesses of his men

By  BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia; INI BILLIE, Uyo

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chapters in Abia, Akwa Ibom and Anambra States have protested the police assault of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and therefore urged the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to halt the activities of his men that may abort Nigeria’s current democratic experience.

In Abia State, the party, which made the call on Thursday, said the IG would be held accountable “should anything happen to our long nurtured democracy.”

Members of the party who stormed the state party headquarters in Umuahia to protest the alleged attack on Ekiti State Governor, Fayose, decried the harassment and embarrassment the Police subjected a sitting governor to.

Fayose reportedly told newsmen in Ekiti Wednesday that he was tortured by the Police, adding that he was slapped, shot at and teargased by Policemen who allegedly invaded Government House Ado-Ekiti.

In a protest letter dated July 12, 2018, with reference number PDP/ABS//ADM/018/039 and addressed to the IGP and signed by Sir Johnson Onuigbo and Chief Ibe Nwadioha, chairman and Secretary of Abia PDP respectively, the party condemned the attack on Fayose by the Police.

“We write to protest and condemn the sordid act of Police attack, brutality, humiliation and dehumanisation of our innocent, peace-loving and law-abiding party faithful in Ekiti State yesterday, the11th day of July, 2018,” the party stated in the letter it delivered to the State Commissioner of Police at the Bende Road Police headquarters.

Accusing the Police of allowing itself to be used to destabilise democracy in the country, PDP said: “We feel sad that the Nigerian Police which is one of the security agencies of the state charged with protection of lives of Nigerians “has allowed itself to degenerate to be used as instrument for perpetuation of autocracy and budding tyranny.

“We are particularly worried over the attack on the person of the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency, Ayo Fayose, and his Deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, the flag bearer of our party.

“We are touched by the bravado and overzealousness of your men in executing this sacrilegious degradation of the exalted office of the Executive Governor of a state, a man sitting on the prodigious and collective mandate of the people of Ekiti State.”

The party queried what would be the fate of ordinary Nigerians in the hands of the Police “if the revered office of the democratically elected governor of a state could be so brazenly desecrated in broad-day light.”

The protest saw members of Abia PDP march to the Police headquarters where the letter to the IG was delivered to the state commissioner of Police, Anthony Ogbizi, who promised that the letter would be transmitted to the IGP.

Similarly, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and Chairman of the governorship election committee inSaturday’s Ekiti State general elections, criticised the alleged manhandling of Gov. Ayo Fayose by security operatives and the campaign of intimidation orchestrated by the Federal Government against adherents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking at the Government House, Uyo, against the backdrop of Wednesday’s tear-gas attack on governor Fayose and PDP supporters at a rally in Ekiti, Emmanuel described the incident  as a fragrant abuse of the nation’s democratic process.

He said the action has serious implications to the sustenance of democracy and the rule of law, and urged Ekiti people not to be intimidated, but to remain resolute in their quest to enthrone through the ballot a people-oriented government of PDP.

The Chairman of the South-South\Southeast Governors’ Forum, assured the Ekiti people that no amount of intimidation would stop the ruling PDP from winning the polls, and expressed optimism that everything had been put in place to ensure straight victory under a free, fair and transparent process.

“The forum of PDP governors in Nigeria has rejected series of blatant abuses of the constitution of Nigeria.

“The issue is not about Ekiti State but the entire Nigeria and the sustenance of the hard-earned democratic governance in Nigeria.

“It is not about Fayose or Ekiti State; it is about everyone of us. If it can happen to Fayose, it means it can happen to anybody. We should not just look at Fayose today, we should not just look at Ekiti State; let us look at Nigeria.

“Elections will come and go, faces will come and go, but Nigeria will remain. So let us not do something that will bring down the country,” he stated.

The governor advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), not to be loyal to an individual but to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and charged security agencies not to be overzealous in dealing with the civil society especially in these political times.

He said, “This country belongs to everybody. This cannot happen in any civilised society where a sitting governor covered with full immunity can be so abused publicly. It is a shame to the whole country; it is a shame to all of us.

“The security agencies should allow the electorate in Ekiti to freely exercise their franchise”.

There was similar protest march by the PDP faithful in Anambra.