- group alerts INEC, security agencies
The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) candidates have called on the APC House of Representative candidate, Mrs. Kafilat Ogbara and her supposed foot soldiers to halt the deliberate destruction and defacing of their posters and publicity works pasted all around the Kosofe federal constituency and environs.
The House of Representatives candidate for the Kosofe Federal constituency seat in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omotayo Odunuga and the Kosofe 2 Constituency candidate for the Lagos State House of Assembly seat, Comrade Babajide Bakare jointly made this call in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday.
The statement reads in part: “It is becoming glaring on a daily basis, and eye-witnesses are capturing how Ogbara and her team are blatantly disregarding any sense of decorum and decency in carrying out this dirty scheme all in the hope to put out any form of winning movement to their fading illusions.
“For example, all our posters under the Otedola, Berger and Ojota Bridges were directly defaced with posters of the desperate Ogbara.
“The same thing also applies in most of Alapere and Ikosi, where our publicity materials were either torn off to give space for Ogbara or totally defaced.
“We are hereby using this medium to first call out Mrs. Kafilat Ogbara to desist from this deliberate and insane actions.
“She should also call her desperate foot soldiers to order so as to forestall any escalation of the matter, as the NNPP candidates are peacefully going about their issues-based campaign and will not want to join in unwarranted tussles with any drowning persons.
“We are also calling on the leadership of the three Local Government and Local Council Development Areas within the Kosofe Federal Constituency, and well-meaning elders to rein in on her (Ogbara) to stop this dastardly acts.
“The Kosofe NNPP winning team will be formally reporting these series of incidences to the different security agencies (the Police, the DSS and the Civil Defense) so as to allow peace to reign in Kosofe.
“We are also using this opportunity to call on all our growing supporters not to be intimidated, but rather remain calm in the face of the attack.
In the words of the incoming Kosofe Rep. Comrade Abdulwaheed Omotayo Odunuga (ABOO), ‘the worst she can do is to destroy our physical posters, she cannot remove our pictures, names and our good works in Kosofe from the heart of the people. And this will obviously speak in our favour at the polls”.
Meanwhile in a statement issued by the Kosofe Active Network, group’s coordinator Musiliu Isiaka alluding to development,he regarded it as an unprovoked assault which is clearly unwarranted, if really the supposed candidates are in the race to serve the interest of the masses.
“We want to bring to the notice of the security agencies and INEC in the state and even at the federal level,the state of intolerance on display in Kosofe polity.
“The constituents are tired of the continued forceful imposition by the ruling party, the recent act is unconstitutional, where a political party’s candidates poster will be torn and immediately replaced with that of another party.
“It is evident that ABOO’s aspiration stands a threat that is sending jitters down the spines of the APC candidate’s political camp, we feel moved to speak up now because of the volatile nature of politics in Kosofe and the need to nib such ugly trend in the bud.
“In the interest of peace, we suggest the ruling party allow a level playing field and stop all this shenanigans, it is clearly a signal that they have fallen out of favour in the area and tend to coarsely force their way.
“This will only heighten tension and give people the enough reason to resort to protest vote as respite.”