Posted by By Lanre Babalola/ Paul Dada on
Former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State, yesterday, gave an insight into the resolve of the leadership of the Action Congress (AC) to resist any form of rigging during the 2011 elections, by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State, yesterday, gave an insight into the resolve of the leadership of the Action Congress (AC) to resist any form of rigging during the 2011 elections, by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Tinubu declared openly that riggers should be prepared for Assured Mutual Destruction because the AC would not fold its hands again and watch PDP rig it out of states where it had clear majority of supporters.
The occasion was the 45th birthday lecture for Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, the state's Commissioner for Information and Strategy.
Apparently dissatisfied with the ruling of the Osun State Election Petitions Tribunal, which dismissed the petition of Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, AC governorship candidate in the 2007 election, Tinubu warned that the party would not allow what is happening now to happen in 2011.
The AC leader said riggers should be ready for assured mutual destruction because AC would resist rigging. According to the Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom, it is the judiciary that will determine, to a large extent, whether democracy would continue in 2011 or not.
He disclosed that the AC would prosecute all its election petitions with vigour, adding that the party would continue to resist injustice. 'We won't give up until we wrest our states from the PDP," Asiwaju Tinubu declared.
The former Lagos State governor described the celebrant as a dependable ally who can be trusted anytime, anywhere. Commending Bamidele for clocking 45 years, Asiwaju described him as a hardworking young man who does not place pecuniary gains as motive for his actions.
Present at the birthday lecture were the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu; Princess Sarah Sosan, deputy governor of the state; Dr. Kayode Fayemi (guest lecturer), AC governorship candidate for Ekiti State; Chief Henry Ajomale, Lagos AC Chairman; Engineer Rauf Aregbesola; Otunba Niyi Adebayo, former governor of Ekiti State; Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Ondo State governor-elect; Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi; commisioners, special advisers, Lagos State House of Assembly members, pro-democracy activists and labour activists.
In his lecture, the guest lecturer, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, called on pro-democracy activists to move beyond activism and participate more in politics. Fayemi said the call became necessary because fraudulent politicians have hijacked governance since many activists have not moved into the mainstream of politics.
'If you make political discourse more negative as some of our politicians very often do, you deliberately turn ordinary people off politics. More people grow cynical and stop paying any serious attention. This experience is not unique to us in Nigeria; in fact, it is the crisis that democracy is experiencing all over Africa and the rest of the world, with low turnout at the polls and scant regard for political leaders. Yet, if we as citizens choose not to play our part in the process of activism in our communities and our state, we will get the politicians we deserve, allow the hijackers of the political realm by special interests groups and those only interested in capturing power for the promotion of their narrow agendas, not the termination of crass opportunism in politics," Fayemi said.
Fayemi stated that there should be a focus on making leaders, with direct citizen participation, adding that 'without direct citizen participation, the legitimacy of our political institutions will continue to decline."
The guest lecturer expressed worry that the ability of politicians and activists are being undermined by the desertion of average citizens from the public space. 'When we (the people) withdraw our trust in our leaders or discountenance politicians, we make our democratic institutions less effective and risk making ourselves ungovernable," he explained.
Fayemi also commended the celebrant, describing him as an activist to the core. He recounted Bamidele's days as students union activist which culminated in his emergence as the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
He said the celebrant entered politics and became the special assistant to former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He disclosed that Opeyemi served under Tinubu as s Special Assistant when he was Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Fayemi also revealed that during the dark days of Abacha's dictatorship, Opeyemi who was on exile in the United States, worked as an attorney, and assisted several Nigerians to regularise their stay in the United States.