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Youths rally support for Buhari in Abuja, Lagos APC guber aspirants mobilise for Ambode

By Niyi Bello (Akure), Adamu Abuh (Abuja), Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt) and Templer Olaiya (Lagos)
29 January 2015   |   7:52 pm
• Gunmen attack party’s office in Rivers • He did not jail Ajasin, says family AHEAD of next month’s general elections, youths from across the country yesterday participated in a roadshow in Abuja aimed at drumming support for the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).     In Lagos,…

• Gunmen attack party’s office in Rivers

• He did not jail Ajasin, says family

AHEAD of next month’s general elections, youths from across the country yesterday participated in a roadshow in Abuja aimed at drumming support for the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

    In Lagos, the APC governorship aspirants have visited the party’s governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode at his campaign office in Gbagada to announce the birth of a support group to ensure his victory in the February 28 polls. And in Rivers State, unknown gunmen have been reported to have torched the secretariat of the APC and vandalized the homes of party chieftains in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government,

  Meanwhile, like the family of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti who had warned against dragging the music maestro into the current political campaigns, members of the late respected Yoruba leader Chief Adekunle Ajasin’s family in Owo, Ondo State yesterday requested the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop using the travails of the former governor of the old Ondo State as campaign instrument against the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Buhari.

  The National Youth Leader of the APC, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo, urged the youths to come out enmasse on election day to cast their votes for the emergence of the Buhari/Osibanjo presidency on May 29, this year.

Stating that the roadshow was organised to sensitize and canvass for votes for the victory of the APC at the polls, Jalo said it was incumbent on the youths who are at the receiving end of poor governance to effect a change in the leadership of the country.

  The Ajasin family, speaking through Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, eldest son of the highly revered chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and former leader of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, said his father was not jailed by Buhari as it is being speculated, “but only invited him for interrogation as required by military tradition and policies then.”

  The younger Ajasin whose sister, Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose, is a chieftain of the APC, told reporters in a telephone interview that his father forgave Buhari over his arrest in 1984 before he died and that politicians should address issues and not personalities in the current political debate in the country.

He cautioned those seeking elective positions to base their campaigns on issue and stop using his father’s name to campaign against the progressives, in whose fold he (Ajasin) belonged when he was alive, adding that  there was no any judicial pronouncement or ruling under Buhari’s government where his father was sentenced to prison or indicted.”

  Speaking during the visit to the Lagos APC governorship candidate, Ambode, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Support Group for Ambode 2015, Senator Tokunbo Afikunyomi, said the group was put together to ensure all hands are on deck and ensure that those who nursed ambition contribute effectively to the party’s victory.

   Emphasising the need to maintain the tempo of achievements recorded by Lagos State and the party, Afikuyomi said the government has done so well that its standards are beyond the performance of the Federal Government.

   Speaking on behalf of the aspirants who are also trustees of the group, former Commissioner for Rural Development, Dr. Tola Kasali, said they were committed to the success of the party and will do everything possible to add value to the campaign.

   He said although aspirants have been wooing voters to support the party, the emergence of the group will ensure better co-ordination of the efforts and provide critical assistance needed by the party to defeat the opposition parties.

   Former Attorney – General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Supo Sasore said the timely emergence of the group will help fill the gaps and deliver victory.

   Announcing the decision of the group to create the tagline, Ambode- The Consolidator, for the campaign, Chairman of the Central Committee of the group and former Minister of State for Defence, Demola Seriki said the growing awareness of the enormous challenge of delivering votes to the party compelled those who are passionate and committed to victory in the forthcoming general elections to call on the aspirants to lead the mission.

    He said the Support Group for Ambode 2015 will compliment the efforts of party officials, ensure the inclusion of aspirants and former office holders in the party’s preparation for the elections and improve the party’s chances of winning the elections.

   Welcoming the group, Ambode, flanked by his running mate, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, thanked the group for the initiative, noting that the task of mobilising over six million voters to elect all the candidates of the party demands the collective efforts of all lovers of the party.

   Worried about the recent spate of violence in Omoku, Rivers State and the entire council which accounts for about 15 percent of the country’s oil production, the APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, has promised to strengthen security in the area if elected.

  It was learnt that several youths armed with lethal weapons stormed the APC secretariat along Omoku-Obrikom Road at about 11 pm on Wednesday and started shooting sporadically at the building. After riddling the entire building with bullets and damaging the windows, they torched it and left.

  During the attacks that lasted more than four hours, the gunmen were said to have gone to the residence of the member representing Ogba/Egbeme/Ndoni constituency 1 in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Gift Wokocha , and torched his property.  Another chieftain of the party, Okey Okire, who is the Special Assistant to the governor on Statistics Matter, was also damaged.

  The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahmad Mohammad, who confirmed the incident said there was attempt by hoodlums to disrupt the APC rally yesterday, but they were repelled by the police.

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