Chairman of Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Engr. Adedeji Doherty, has described the increasing rise of street gangsters in Lagos and political clashes in the state as an indictment on the leadership style of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the government of Gov. Babajide Sanwoolu.
Engr. Doherty said this in reaction to the viral video showing images of violent clashes when the PDP governorship candidate, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran popularly known as Jandor took his campaign tour of the 245 wards in Lagos State to Surulere Local Government.
The immediate past State Chairman of Lagos PDP said there was none to hold responsible for the worsening insecurity in the state other than Gov. Sanwoolu who has shown utter lack of capacity to protect life and property in the state.
Engr. Doherty said the state government had been complicit in the previous cases of politically motivated attacks on harmless citizens of Lagos, recalling the instance when thugs were mobilised to disperse peaceful EndSARS protesters in front of the Government House at Alausa, Ikeja.
He said it was when the resolute EndSARS protesters resisted the intimidation by the state-sponsored thugs and repelled their attacks that the government drafted in the military who swooped on them at the Lekki Toll Gate.
There was massive outrage after reports that the armed soldiers, who were responding to the call from Gov. Sanwoolu, shot at and killed many of the protesters.
In a statement e-signed on his behalf by Mr. Muka Popoola, the head of DD Media Team, Engr Doherty said it was an open secret that the state had over the years been under the terror of unrestrained street urchins who appear being pampered by the Sanwoolu government because they serve as thugs to intimidate opponents to his political party.
He said it was a sad commentary that the APC and the state government that turned thousands of vulnerable young men into motor park touts known as “Agbero” and political thugs are still expecting to enjoy the support of the ordinary citizens that they have been terrorising as the 2023 elections are fast approaching.
Engr. Doherty recalls that the campaign train of the PDP candidate on his tour of the 245 wards of the 20 local governments in Lagos State has been attacked by the APC thugs in several local governments, yet Gov. Sanwoolu and the APC leadership had looked the other way suggesting that the reign of unchecked thuggery and violence are now the new normal under the APC administration in the state.
The latest of the APC-motivated attacks on Jandor occurred last Friday at Aguda while on his tour of Surulere Local Government as the thugs waylaid him and his entourage, freely using dangerous weapons as guns and matchette.
Earlier, the Jandor campaign train had been attacked in Badagry, Kosofe, Shomolu and Agege with several of his vehicles badly vandalised while a number of PDP members on the campaign sustained various degrees of bodily injuries.
He said that a situation where the citizens resort to self-help to protect themselves from unrestrained activities of the APC thugs and street urchins who have taken over most neighbourhoods in the state was an indictment on the government.
Condemning the rising wave of violent political clashes in the state, Doherty said it was, however, preposterous for Sanwoolu and the APC to attempt to make a villain of the PDP governorship candidate, Dr. Adediran popularly known as Jandor after unleashing their thugs on him while he’s peacefully taking his campaign to the electorate across the state.
He said that the deafening silence of Gov. Babajide Sanwoolu and the APC leadership in the state while thugs believed to be members of the ruling APC unleash terror on opposition politicians speaks volume.
Calling on Gov. Sanwoolu to uphold the tenets of democracy, which allows the citizens free expression of their choices, he cautioned that to allow the people feel unprotected and resort to self-help in protecting themselves can only lead to chaos and anarchy that would upset the peace of the state.
Engr. Doherty said that APC and Gov Sanwoolu should realise that unleashing their thugs and killer gangs on the PDP candidates and members across the state will not save them from the wrath of angry Lagos electorate who are determined to flush them out of power through their votes during the forthcoming elections.
He said that the APC administration had failed Lagosians and are bound to reject their candidates during the forthcoming elections.
According to him, the Lagos electorate and Nigerians in general had resolved to vote the PDP candidate, Dr. Adediran, as their next governor, just as the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar would thrash their leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the February 25 polls in Lagos.
Saying that the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council would not be deterred by the APC crude and panicky approach in galvanising support for the PDP candidates across the state, Doherty assured that the Lagos PDP leadership will continue to run a focused and peaceful campaign devoid of violence, as he charged the members not to be intimidated because the APC have seen defeat staring them in the face.
He, however, called on the police authorities and other security agencies in Lagos not to be affected by the docility of the state government in discharging their basic responsibility of ensuring that life and property are safe.
He said the violent Agbero gangs must be put in check to ensure that the people of the state can freely go out and express their franchise on the election day.
Doherty also appealed to the residents of Aguda-Surulere where the Friday unrest happened to see the unfortunate incident as the need to change the government that cannot guarantee their safety.
Since Jandor came to their vicinity to sell his candidature, says Doherty, it sounds to reason that the violence that erupted could not have been instigated neither by him nor the members of his campaign team.
He told the Lagos PDP members to remain undaunted in their support for Jandor, saying that everyone should go out and win for all the PDP candidates in the forthcoming elections.
