APC spoke’s man, Lai Mohammed who was arrested late last
night has been released. He spoke about what he saw and how 97 APC party
leaders have also been arrested and detained in Osun State. Here’s a press
statement from him.
''We were being driven to the Government House when we were
stopped at a military check point by men in military and DSS uniforms, all
hooded and armed to the teeth with AK-47 assault rifles, pistols and other
weapons. Since there was no curfew in Osun state and people were moving around
freely, we felt it was a routine check.
''Suddenly, the men, some of them apparently drunk, ordered
us out of the car, took our phones, pointed their assault rifles at our heads
and said 'you are under arrest'. They herded us into their bus like animals and
drove away. There is no doubt that they knew who we are because I introduced
myself!
''From our encounter with our tormentors, there is also no
doubt that these were not just soldiers and DSS officials, there were also
ex-militants and thugs, all clad in military and DSS uniforms but apparently lacking
in any training! We also witnessed how men in military and DSS uniform fired
their guns at the gate leading to the residence of Senator Isiaka Adeleke to
force it open!
''We asked them why we were being arrested, but they ignored
our question as they drove for close to one hour before veering into a compound
that turned out to be the offices of the DSS. There, we met people who had been
previously arrested and stripped of their clothing, many of them bloodied from
the beatings to which they must have been subjected.
''We were herded to one side as our tormentors marched
around triumphantly, in what could well have been a scene from the Ukraine! We
were waiting for our turn to be stripped of our apparels and taken along with
those who were arrested earlier to the DSS cells when a man who is apparently a
senior DSS official intervened and ordered our release. The men who arrested
us, apparently unhappy at the order to set us free, rejected the order, until
the man asserted his authority and even accompanied us to where we were
arrested from.
''Back there, we discovered that our driver has been badly
beaten and even robbed of his personal belongings by the same security agents
being paid by the taxpayers to protect the citizens, whose ranks have now been
swelled, willingly, by thugs and ex-militants, armed and dressed in official
uniforms by the PDP and sanctioned by the Jonathan-led Federal Government!
''This arrest is not about Lai Mohammed, Sunday Dare or
Afolabi Salisu, whoever we may be, but about the constitutionally-guaranteed
rights of Nigerians, ordinary Nigerians, to move around freely, associate with
any party of their choice and express their opinions without being molested or
arrested.
''The way and manner we were harassed, arrested and
dehumanized on Friday night show that Nigerian citizens can no longer be sure
that the security agents they encounter on the roads or anywhere else are
well-trained and highly-disciplined men and women in the military, police, DSS
and others that we used to know. What we have now are Jonathan's soldiers,
policemen and DSS officials who have since stopped working for the nation but
are now the enforcement arm of the PDP.
''As we write this, APC leaders and members are still being
harassed and arrested across Osun State. We have just received reports that our
members were arrested in Ifelodun Local Government Ward 10,.Atakumosa East
Local Government and Ife East Local Government, Okerewe Wards 2 and 3. Over all
we have ninety-seven leaders of our party in detention and the arrest has not
stopped. This cannot be right.
''Our party, the APC, has no doubt whatsoever that the
depravity being exhibited under President Jonathan's watch, in the name of
politics, has his imprimatur. We have no doubt that elections, which should be
a celebration of democracy, have now been turned to war because of the
desperation of President Jonathan to win re-election at all costs. We have no
doubt that the anarchic Minister of State for Defence and Minister of Police
Affairs, who are leading the ''troops'' in Osun as they did in Ekiti, are
taking their cue from President Jonathan.
''If those Ministers can move around freely in Osun and
elsewhere, why can't other Nigerians, irrespective of the party they belong to?
If a PDP hireling like Chris Uba can be put in the command of 50 soldiers of
the Nigerian Army, why should anyone still be under any illusion that the
Nigerian Army is still serving the nation? Where else in the world is a thug
commanding disciplined forces?
''We, Lai Mohammed, Sunday Dare and Afolabi Salisu, are just
fortunate to be alive. The guns pointed at our heads by drunken armed men could
have gone off! Since our arrest took place in the dark, we could have been driven
to an unknown destination and shot dead! This is a dangerous time for Nigeria
and her democracy. Irrespective of the outcome of the Osun election, democracy
has been dealt a near-mortal blow. 73,000 'security agents', including the
military, police, DSS, Civil Defence, ex-militants, thugs and murderers,
deployed to police election in just one state? There is no better indication
that we are in a militarized democracy.
''Again, we call on President Jonathan to stop deceiving the
world. In one breath, this President says he is committed to credible elections
and that his political ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian. In
another, he sanctions state-sponsored harassment, intimidation and even killing
of ordinary Nigerians by security forces that are now the enforcement arm of
the ruling party, all in the name of politics.
''He desecrates national institutions by willfully using
them against the opposition. This is not the democracy that many of our
compatriots fought and died for. This is not the Nigeria that was envisaged by
our past heroes. It is time for all concerned to step in and stop President
Jonathan before he brings the country crashing down on our heads,'' APC said
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Osogbo, Aug. 9th, 2014
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