150 APC members harassed, by Aregbesola
The governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, who is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship election, has condemned the harassment of not less than 150 chieftains and members of his party across the state by the security agencies.
He, therefore, charged the Federal Government to show more commitment to democracy.
Aregbesola spoke at Ifofin ward 8, unit 1 polling centre in Ilesa, his hometown where he voted alongside his wife, Serifat, and children at exactly 10.45 a.m.
He commended the conduct of the election.
He said, “They will have themselves to blame if they scuttle democracy. You can see people’s patriotism and commitment to democracy. What they are doing by picking our chieftains and members is barbaric. If the federal government could be 20 per cent committed to democracy as demonstrated by ordinary people, the nation would have been the best for it”
“They have been arresting, harassing and molesting our people for no just reason. The democracy is about making your choice freely without being hounded.
“Beside the initial show of unwarranted force shown by a section of security agencies, one cannot understand why this is heavily biased against my party.”
He added, “Starting from 1a.m on Saturday, not less than 150 of my party members have been harassed, threatened, bastardised. Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of my state was manhandled and maltreated. When you have such a discriminatory attitude such action in a democracy, this is a bastardised democracy. Let it be known that we are under the siege of gun.
“Having said this about the run up to the election, I must not fail to recognise the smooth nature of the process in my polling centre, the people received us enthusiastically and in a very orderly manner which was devoid of any crisis. What I witnessed when I visited the polling centre was commendable. My hope is that what happened when I visited this polling unit is the experience state wide. It is my hope that if this is the case, we will sing a good song of the strength of democracy.
“The strength of the people in a democracy is to freely, fairly and transparently choose whoever is most appropriate to govern them, by their own judgement. We expect that the enthusiasm of our people is sufficient to douse the exuberance of the overzealous miscreants,” he said.