The campaign team of the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, OON, has accused members of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state of intimidating his supporters.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday, the PDP Campaign team said the acts of intimidation included direct threats to PDP members and non-indigenes to either vote APC or not to vote at all.
The organisation urged supporters, especially non-indigenes, to ignore such threats and troop out to vote for PDP candidates.
While stating that its campaign office had been besieged by victims who had suffered victimisation by agents of APC, the Agbaje team warned that it would not simply watch its supporters being harassed and security operatives in the state must act immediately.
A statement issued by the Media Office of the Jimi Agbaje Campaign Organisation in (JACO) Lagos on Wednesday said that APC had resorted to acts of intimidation because the ruling party sensed defeat ahead of Saturday’s governorship poll.
“We are daily inundated by members of our party that their colleagues in the other party, the APC has been intimidating them. The complaints have come from virtually all the local governments across the state.
“It appears that indeed the leadership of the APC has been encouraging its members to intimidate our members. This is a sad development that we can no longer condoned,” he said.
“We have also gathered that leaders of the APC have been using the platform of Community Development Associations (CDAs) to issue quit notices to our members in their various residences,” JACO said.
JACO, also, alleged that some other PDP members in Oshodi and Isolo had in the last few days been physically assaulted by APC members for no other reason other than being perceived as PDP members and supporters.
The organistion, however, warned that “APC members should realise that they alone don’t have the monopoly of violence. We have done a lot to ensure that our members keep the peace. But there is a limit to how long our members can endure these forms of intimidation. We are however using this opportunity to urge the security community to do all within its powers to ensure peaceful conduct of the poll.”
On why the trend has, JACO stated that “What we know and appreciate is that the ruling party is very jittery. And intimidation and rigging of the polls have been chosen as the only way to retain power.”