BENJAMIN OMOIKE l Thursday, March 23, 2023
LAGOS, Nigeria – Labour Party, LP, gubernatorial candidate for Lagos State in the just-concluded elections which held on March 18, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, GRV, has roundly condemned the outcome of the polls and what he describes as lawlessness and violence akin to the Rwandan genocide.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has since declared incumbent governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu as winner of the election with a total of 762,134 votes to beat his closest rival Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of LP with 312,329 votes.
GRV equally took a swipe at the president-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing him of promoting what he described as ‘agberocracy’, rather than democracy – a system where thugs are unleashed on the people, or a military type of government which will use violence and diabolical means to create a one-party state.
No healing without justice
“I thank Lagosians for their courage for making decisions based on hope and resisting fear. Our message was about empathy, love, good governance that is open and accountable.
“Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for healing yesterday, but healing cannot happen without justice. The APC unleashed evil on Lagosians, diabolically with their fetish rites and curses during the day, and physical violence against all Lagosians; yet they want the peace of a graveyard, they want the healing of the dead.
Diabolic measures
“For the ambition of one man, we saw our traditional institutions reduced to pawns, tools, oro rites that are done at night were done during the day, invoking in broad day light the spell that Senator Tinubu and his cult have used to keep Lagos bound. This was no election, it was violence on multiple levels, diabolically and physically. On this ambition they sowed seeds that could potentially lead to outcome like the Rwandan genocide.
Platform to offset bills of violence victims
“Yesterday I spent my day visiting victims of Saturday’s state-backed terrorism and violence from Abule-Ado to Surulere, Apapa and Ikeja. I met with young men and women with bullets lodged in their bodies with deep cuts, fractured legs, etc. I reach out to you to say I am with you I feel your pain and myself and deputy are by your side.”
He says he has launched a platform to offset the bills of those who suffered violence during the election, and that all those affected should come forward to register with proof, so that they could be catered for.
He added that Lagosians needed a state that would not be suppressed by diabolism, thuggery and evil people. He stressed that the Labour Party and Lagosians cannot afford to be associated with this kind of APC government.
“We have launched the platform GRV cares 2023 and anyone who has suffered violence should upload their picture, hospital bills and police report and we will help towards offsetting these bills.
“The thrust of my message isn’t to the evil cult organisation of the APC, but it is to the indigenous Lagosian, and Lagosians at large.
Creation of one party state, ‘agberocracy’
“We cannot afford to have an agberocracy – or a military type of government that will use violence and diabolical means to create a one-party state – from Ikoyi to Ikeja to Ikorodu, we were all disenfranchised. They could not campaign on their past records, so they stoked ethnic strife. For the ambition of one man and his cult, the entire credibility that INEC had built over the last 4 years was ripped in shreds.
“Lagosian, our enemy are not our neighbours or visitors, or fellow Lagosians with diverse tongues. Our common enemy is violence, insecurity, poverty, stagnation, corruption and underdevelopment. It is these same people responsible for these, that have weaponised poverty and ethnicity to distract us from their evil endeavours and diabolical activities.”
No free and fair election under Tinubu
“We will never have a free and fair election under a Tinubu presidency. They have tried to destroy years of delicately balanced ethnic relations, years or inter-marriage and friendships, years of commerce, and years of building Lagos into the economic juggernaut that it is. I call on the silent majority, decent and cultured Lagosians, indigenous Lagosians and Lagosians at large to speak out.
Seeking redress in court
“One man’s selfish ambition shouldn’t be allowed to to truncate all that Afenifere, PANDEF, Middle Belt, our founding fathers, etc., have built over the years. Agberocracy shouldn’t be allowed to thrive. Our future is at stake here. If we allow this to slide, what we’re saying is that if I or anyone wants to be governor of Lagos, all I need to do is have a militia group or an army of armed thugs to do my dirty job for me.
“We have it on record that people were brought in from outside Lagos to carry out this nefarious acts on election day. We cannot continue like this. Lagosians want an empathetic government and that’s what we represent. We are coming with love and empathy, and that’s the difference.
“It is enough of the worst of us defining the rest of us. On Saturday, we saw their vision for Lagos and agberocracy, and we will fight through all legal channels to birth our Lagos,” GRV stated.
