Lai Mohammed: Tinubu, APC leaders to be arrested on trumped-up charges

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We invited you here today to intimate you with the plan by the
Jonathan-led federal government and the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) to decimate the opposition and gain an undue advantage
ahead of the forthcoming general elections, due to start next
Saturday.
Without mincing words, we are aware that a RED ALERT alert has been
sent to the EFCC to arrest the National Leader of our party, the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on trumped-up
charges anytime from now.

In addition, anyone who is suspected of being a financier of the APC
is to be arrested, all in efforts to decapitate the main opposition
party which is undoubtedly cruising to victory in the forthcoming
elections.

And as part of the offensive against the APC in the days ahead, there
is a plan to freeze the accounts of companies, individuals and
organisations believed to be financing the party, with the ultimate
objective of crippling the party so it won’t be able to sustain its
activities, like paying its agents on Election Day and other
logistics.

I am sure the question playing on your lips are: Why would anyone want
to arrest APC leaders at this time? What have they done to warrant
their arrest? Will there still be a level playing ground for the
elections if the main opposition party is decimated just days to the
polls?

Well, we can tell you that this planned arrest is orchestrated by the
same people who have sponsored a series of protests to the EFCC, on
the basis of the same documentary against Asiwaju which they also
masterminded. It may sound like an intrigue, but that is exactly what
it is.

Before I proceed further, please recall that in a statement issued by
my party on March 9th, we raised the alarm about the plan to arrest
those they suspected to be key financiers of our party. They said it
was not true, that we were raising a false alarm.

Then, during the meeting of the PDP Governors in Lagos on March 10th,
one the Governors, Sule Lamido of Jigawa, said all that needs to be
done to break the APC is to ‘kidnap’ two of its leaders, apparently
referring to Asiwaju and our presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari.

Definitely, the current move to arrest Asiwaju and anyone they suspect
to be a financier of our party fits into the alarm we raised and the
open threat by Gov. Lamido. How predictable can a government be?

It is clear that the momentum has swung to the side of our party, with
just a little over a week before the Presidential and National
Assembly elections. It is clear that Nigerians have rejected the PDP
and have embraced our party, the APC, as the agent of the change that
they (Nigerians) so much desire.

That explains the desperation being exhibited by the PDP-led Jonathan
Administration to arrest Asiwaju, whom they see as the arrowhead of
the opposition, believing that this will cripple our party and stop
the momentum we have gained.

Of course it is no longer news that the six-week postponement of the
elections, which the Jonathan Administration orchestrated with the
objective of slowing down our party’s momentum and giving the Jonathan
Administration time to regain lost ground, has failed to achieve that
objective, hence the resort to more dirty tactics of framing up our
leaders just to put them away.

Still on frame-up, the Jonathan Administration has also alleged that
our leaders are behind a certain APC Radio which they claimed is being
used to destabilize the polity.

Gentlemen, we state categorically that we have nothing to do with that
radio station. We believe strongly that the radio station is the
handiwork of the same people who are accusing us of establishing it.
Their main reason for setting up the station is simple: To use it as
another excuse to clamp down on our leaders.

They are the ones who set up the station. They are the ones who
announced its establishment to the whole country and now they are the
ones who are trying to leverage it to arrest our leaders.

Gentlemen, we are not surprised at the increasing resort to dirty
tactics by the PDP-led Jonathan Administration. It fits into the
pattern of the Administration’s abuse of federal institutions,
including the police, the military and the regulatory agencies, to
harass and intimidate the opposition

It is also a reflection of the desperation of the Jonathan government
to make sure that Nigeria is plunged into chaos by sabotaging the
elections. As we have always said, this President is not interested in
a free, fair, credible and violence-free polls. That is why it can
even contemplate the arrest of opposition leaders on trumped-up
charges, hoping that it will trigger a crisis that will either scuttle
the polls or pave the way for anti-democratic forces to short-circuit
our country’s democracy.

We are therefore using this forum to alert Nigerians to the evil
machinations of the Jonathan government and the PDP to throw Nigeria
into crisis. We also call on our country’s international friends to
take note of the desperate tactics of the duo and to do whatever they
can to prevail on them not to plunge the country into chaos.

As a matter of fact, these duo have perfected every strategy to put
Nigeria on the road to Kigali and Laurent Gbagbo’s post-election Ivory
Coast in the days ahead. This explains why we have been constantly
raising the alarm for our compatriots and the world to know and act.

Election is not war, but a celebration of democracy. Nigeria must not
be allowed to be plunged into crisis for whatever reason. This is
because the consequences will be dire, not just for our country and
her citizens but for the entire West African region and indeed all of
Africa.

Nigeria’s estimated population of 170 million is over 56 per cent of
the ECOWAS’ population of 300 million. Therefore, a destabilized
Nigeria is a destabilized West Africa.

We want to thank all Nigerians, especially those within the Jonathan
Administration who have chosen to put the love of country above
personal gains, for constantly giving us a heads-up on the nefarious
activities of the Administration which are aimed at scuttling the
forthcoming polls and truncating our nation’s democracy

Despite the ominous cloud that is gathering over our nation, we remain
optimistic that the anarchists behind the efforts to destabilize our
country will not succeed. We remain optimistic that the will of the
people of Nigeria will prevail over that of a cabal that is hell bent
on holding on to power at all cost. After all, as Abraham Lincoln
said, no man is good enough to govern another man without that man’s
consent.

We have no doubt that at the end of the day, good will overcome evil.

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