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Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Lagos State governor, has said that his government will do everything to ensure that Lagos State is not.....
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Lagos State governor, has said that his government will do everything to ensure that Lagos State is not turned into a war zone for the spilling of blood for political purposes.
He said this yesterday while expressing the condolence of his government and the people of Lagos State to the family, wife and children of the late Mr. Funsho Williams, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant who was murdered in his bedroom on Thursday.
"Lagos State has been peaceful because we always encourage ideas-driven politics, the politics of debate over issues and policy options. We have never witnessed political assassination in our state. This alleged assassination therefore poses a clear and present danger to the peace-loving people of our state and threatens the cordial atmosphere under which citizens can seek to represent the people and canvass for votes," he maintained.
He assured Lagosians that everything would be done to unravel the mystery surrounding this dastardly act and bring the perpetrators to book.
"Let me use this opportunity to call on the aspirants and leadership of all political parties, to embark on the re-orientation of their members on the virtues of politics without hate, harassment and blood spilling. If indeed, all we seek to do is to serve the people, then we should not engage in acts which undermine the democratic process. Invariably, those who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind," the governor asserted.
Tinubu said the late politician was never known to be a violent man as he had the privilege of campaigning with him as members of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and against him as his challenger on the platform of the PDP in the 2003 elections.
He went on to call on the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to move speedily to unravel this alleged murder before the perpetrators erase their trails.
"Our country has witnessed so many unresolved murders. Till date, we still do not know who killed the nation's former Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige. We do not know those who killed Harry Marshal, Dikibo of the PDP. This failure to unravel the murders may have encouraged this dangerous trend and unwittingly assured the masterminds that they can get away," he said.
Asiwaju noted that if Nigeria is going to witness a free and fair election, an election that will not be determined by how many guns and goons a candidate is able to acquire, the Police must rise up to the challenge of this alleged murder and bring the perpetrators to book immediately.
To enhance speedy investigation of this unprecedented incident in a state that has never witnessed this manifestation of political violence, the state government has offered a N10million reward to any individual, group, corporate body or institution that can provide information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
Meanwhile,following the killing of Chief Funso Williams, a gubernatorial aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], President Olusegun Olusegun Obasanjo has been called upon to institute an enquiry into the incident with a view to finding his killers.
Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Chief Adeyemi Ikuforiji made thecharge in his office at Alausa while reacting to the news of the murder of thfrontline politician. He described the incident as sad and barbaric and wondered why the killing had to come now that political activities have reached high level- preparatory to the 2007 general election.
Hon. Ikuforiji, who described Late Funso Williams as a gentle and decent governorship aspirant in the PDP, urged the President to treat the assassination issue with the seriousness it deserves, lamenting that Lagos State never experienced "this kind of brazen desperation to destroy people, even during the political turbulence that enveloped the whole of Western Region in the first republic."
He however, was of the opinion that those who are genuinely interested in the welfare of the people should not engage in political assassination to settle scores with opponents