Following reports of attacks on Labour Party, LP, members in Lagos, the party’s governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has urged security personnel to remember that it is their duty to protect all citizens, regardless of their political, religious, or ethnic affiliations.
The recent senseless attack on an LP member in the Ojo area for posting campaign posters, in which he was macheted with deep cuts on his skull and all over his body, was condemned by Rhodes-Vivour at a press conference on the issues and challenges of collecting PVC in Lagos on Wednesday. She called it unacceptable.
He said,“We will continue to relate with the security agents and we are saying it on camera today that we are not going to be intimidated. We are law-abiding members of society. So, we will reach out to the police and other security agencies and hope that they will do the needful. However, if we don’t see any attitude of doing the needful by the security agents as the election day approaches, we’ll be forced to protect ourselves by any means necessary.”
While praising the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for taking swift action to address some of the difficulties encountered in the collection of PVCs, he advised the public to persevere since every hardship is worthwhile.
He added, “Preventing people from collecting their PVCs is suppression of votes. We want to ensure that those collecting PVCs are the true owners to avoid voter suppression. LP is concerned about every Nigerian who wants to vote. What we want is that every registered voter is allowed to vote because that’s the only way we can achieve the new Nigeria that we all desire. So, anew Nigeria is possible if we collect our PVCs and vote during the elections.”
However, the LP candidate voiced confidence in the INEC’s ability to hold a credible, fair, and free election, saying: “I was happy with the INEC officials we met yesterday (Tuesday). I respect the State REC, a former DSS officer. It is always good to have security experts get involved in elections because this election is about security. So when we have somebody that knows about security at the helm of affairs, he would want to do well. Because if people do not want Free and fair elections, there will be no BVAS.
“Even when we complained that the time to collect PVCs was too short, INEC extended it. And when we have issues submitting names of polling agents, they also extended it for us.
“However, My eyes are on the people at the ward and LGA level because that thing is not translating all the way down for us.”
On the perception that LP is an Igbo party, Rhodes-Vivour stressed that; LP is the only party that has a quality representation of people from different regions of the country, everything is balanced. PDP doesn’t have that and APC cannot claim to have that. If you look at APC, there’s no place for South-South or South-East, and there’s no place for Christians. LP is the most balanced party because you have Christians, Moslems, and all the regions of Nigeria are well represented. That’s how Nigeria is supposed to be. So nobody can say that LP is Igbo party.”