Two major opposition political parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, have petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan to stop the use of state instruments to intimidate the opposition ahead of THE April general elections.



While the national body of the acn attributed the recent questioning of its chieftain, Bola Tinubu, by the State Security Service to attempts to silence the party, the ANPP complained about the stoppage of its presidential rally in Ebonyi State by the state governor, Martin Elechi.



The ACN, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday, said that Jonathan should abide by his promise not to intimidate the opposition.



It said, ‘’It is instructive that the President was making his pledge during his campaign rally in Ondo State, a day after the SSS officials quizzed our leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Abuja, supposedly over his comments on the soap box.’’



‘’What has Asiwaju said that President Jonathan has not said more of? Who introduced incendiary rhetoric into the campaign by abusing a whole people and tagging their leaders as rascals? If that characterisation was not considered inciting, why should Asiwaju’s reactions and comments on the campaign trail be a reason to summon him to Abuja for questioning?”



The party recalled that the governorship candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change in Nasarawa State, Ahaji Al Makura, was harassed after the reported stoning of the President’s convoy in Lafia, the state capital.



The party warned that today’s Nigeria would not be a platform for such a primitive persecution of the political opposition, adding that Nigerians are determined that next month’s elections would not only be free and fair, but that the processes leading to the polls must also be transparent.



It said the summoning of Asiwaju to Abuja by the SSS was just the latest in the acts of intimidation that would have shaken lesser mortals.



The party said there was no doubt that the rising profile of the ACN was sending jitters into the camp of the PDP, but warned that true power belongs to the people, irrespective of the antics of those who find themselves in power today.



‘’Our party’s profile is rising because our message of hope is resonating with Nigerians. Our rallies are attracting huge crowds because the people believe in us. That explains why many of our leaders, including Asiwaju, had to ride Okadas to the venue of our rally in Ibadan, when the packed venue became inaccessible. We did not need armoured tanks because the people protected us,” it noted.



The party appealed to its supporters, many of whom he said had expressed outrage at the glaring partisanship of the SSS, to continue to be peaceful before, during and after the elections



In Ebonyi, Elechi had on Wednesday announced the stoppage of the ANPP’s presidential rally in Abakaliki, the state capital.



The leadership of the ANPP had earlier announced that the kick-off of the party’s presidential campaign would be in Abakaliki, the state capital.



Elechi, however, said he would not allow the rally to hold, alleging that the leadership of the opposition party was planning to foment trouble in the state.



But speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the National Chairman of ANPP, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who also hails from the state, denounced the position of the governor.



Onu said that since the President had sworn to an oath to defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he should rise above party politics by calling Elechi, who is a member of the President’s PDP, to order



He said, “The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in both his Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office swore to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.’“The President should with a sense of urgency, act with speed to call the Governor of Ebonyi State to order. The governor of Ebonyi State should be made to subject himself to both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution which he too swore to preserve, protect and defend.



“Governor Elechi’s pronouncement is completely in bad faith, unfair and totally unacceptable to our great party. Accordingly, we call on the various agencies to take due notice of this dangerous trend emanating from a serving state governor.



“We recall that on Wednesday, there was no problem when sister political party kicked off its presidential campaign in Kaduna, the home state of the vice-president, who belongs to the PDP.”



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110304746046

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[size=38pt]Fresh Air 2011!!!
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