Against the backdrop of Saturday’s postponement of the General Elections in the country by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on Sunday, appealed for calm, patience and non-violence among supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) nationwide.
Governor Fashola, who spoke at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, venue of a rally by Hausa traders, under the umbrella of the Amalgamated Foodstuff, Ram and Cattle Dealers’ Association, to endorse candidates
of the All Progressives Congress, including its Governorship flag bearer, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, reminded all APC members of the peace accord signed by the party’s Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, saying they are duty-bound to respect it.
Frowning at the excuse of the inability of the security agencies to provide necessary protection for INEC personnel and equipment as reason for the postponement, Fashola maintained that the
protection of life and property of citizens is the primary duty of government worldwide. He declared, “The work of government is security. Jega (INEC Chairman) must not be begging for security; that
is the duty of government. That they cannot provide security for the INEC Chairman that is why they should not continue to be in government”.
He noted that the postponement was part of the antics of the ruling party to provoke violence among the opposition, adding that APC members and supporters would continue to keep the peace and maintain the non-violence accord as long as the security agencies are prepared to protect them during their campaigns and rallies.
He told the gathering of Hausa traders, market and community leaders as well as APC Chieftains, “They will provoke you, they will taunt you, but don’t fight”, adding, however, “But that you want to maintain
peace does not mean you should not continue your campaigns. Let nobody disturb your door-to-door campaigns. We trust our security agencies to protect life and property and protect all law abiding citizens”.
Noting that the ruling party is now afraid to proceed with the elections in spite of having campaigned for over a year, he declared, “I am sure the only thing we want to do is to vote for our candidates. So, let the campaigns continue; intensify the house-to-house campaigns. Whether they like it or not, Nigeria is on the move, the momentum for change is here and nobody can stop it”.
The Governor reiterated that postponement of the elections has not changed the momentum of Change adding, “Come March 28, we must vote General Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo and all our National Assembly candidates and on April 11 we would vote our Governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode and House of Assembly candidates.
“We must maintain peace in accordance with the accord signed by our party’s Presidential Candidate”, he reiterated adding, “However, in any situation where our security agencies deliberately fail to do their duty of protecting us, we must defend ourselves against undue attack and harassment”. The Governor thanked the traders for turning out in their numbers to endorse the State’s Gubernatorial Candidate saying both the State Government and the APC see them as bona fide Lagosians who have the right of citizenship to carry out their legitimate business, marry and raise families here, benefit from all infrastructure put in place, as
well as pay their taxes here for the development of the State”.