Onyekachi Eze 
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said President Bola Tinubu should stop stoking political crises across the country in his desperate bid to retain power at all costs. Atiku, who was reacting to last Monday’s invasion of the Lagos State House of Assembly by officials the Department of State Services (DSS), and the attempted forceful takeover of Osun local government council secretariats by sacked officials of the councils, accused Tinubu of encouraging acts of political sabotage.
“President Bola A. Tinubu, @ officialABAT, and his dwindling band of enablers must cease their reckless acts of political sabotage, not just in Osun or Lagos, but across Nigeria. “The people demand governance, not chaos. Nigerians will not sit idly while their democracy is hijacked by a powerdrunk regime intent on setting the country on fire. Enough is enough,” he warned.
Atiku, in the statement yesterday, said that Monday’s incidents exposed the depths of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government’s desperation to retain power at all costs through sheer political brigandage and the subversion of democracy.
“In Osun State, the APC orchestrated a full-scale assault on the democratic process, attempting to hijack the local government election through brute force. “Armed thugs and mercenaries, operating under the party’s protection, launched an audacious bid to seize control of all 30 local government area council secretariats.
“And yet, the so-called national leadership of the APC and the presidency watched in complicit silence,” he said. The former vice president stated that if not for the fearless resistance of the Osun people, “who stood their ground against the APC’s rampaging foot soldiers, democracy in the state would have been trampled under the boots of political marauders acting at the behest of their party’s overlords.”
He assured that Osun State will not bow to anti-democratic forces, stating that: “The people have shown beyond doubt that they will not allow their electoral rights to be stolen, no matter the level of intimidation.” Atiku called on the security agencies deployed for Saturday’s local government election in Osun State, to uphold their constitutional duty with professionalism, refusing to be used as enforcers of the APC’s agenda. “These are dangerous times.
The APC has abandoned any pretence of democratic legitimacy, resorting instead to brute force in its bid to cling to power, even as the people have overwhelmingly rejected it,” he noted. He commended Osun citizens for standing up to the tyranny that sought to break them, adding that their resilience was a beacon of hope in the face of unrelenting oppression.
“Tinubu’s APC has left no doubt, it will stop at nothing to subvert democracy and impose itself against the will of the people. But Nigerians must resist. The time-honoured warning remains true: eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” he stated.
