An imminent political crisis looms in Ibadan, Oyo State capital today , with the insistence of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to hold its South–west presidential rally at Mapo Hall in deviant to the order given by the state government against the rally.
The management of Mapo Hall told the leadership of the party that the planned rally would no longer be allowed to hold in the hall, citing an “order from above” despite the party’s claim to have paid for the hall earlier.
Another reason given was that the wife of the president, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, would be addressing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women in the same venue on Tuesday.
But the spokesman of the party’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), Mr. Yinka Odumakin, yesterday insisted that having complied with all regulations known to the laws of the land, the rally would still hold at the venue as planned.
In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, Odumakin said the party would not submit to the intimidation of the ruling Peoples Democatic Party (PDP). He said: “They (the PDP) have denied us venues in Niger and Adamawa states. There comes a time when ‘enough is enough.’ “We ask President Jonathan to hold the leash on his attack dogs, as it smacks of hypocrisy for him to be pretending to be calling peace parleys with other presidential candidates while his agents are working against peace.
“We wish to sound it loud and clear again that all these shenanigans will not stop the Buhari/Bakare hurricane that is blowing away the umbrella of deception all over Nigeria.” He added that the party saw the development as a continuation of the abuse of incumbency by the Jonathan administration which he claimed had buried “the rule of law” mantra with the remains of his predecessor. “We want Nigerians to help us ask if Mrs. Patience Jonathan will ask somebody not to hold a wedding ceremony at an event centre because she intends using the place the following day if she were a private citizen,” he added.
He dismissed the state government’s claim that the party caused the confusion by changing the date of the rally. Odumakin made available receipts to show that the CPC validly booked the venue for Monday, March 14, 2011. “The Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala added a ridiculous dimension to the whole saga when he lied that the hiccup was because we changed our rally date.
“The attached receipts from Ibadan Local Governments Properties Co. Limited, the official managers of Mapo Hall, showed the date CPC booked Mapo Hall and the subsequent official acceptance of CPC use of Mapo Hall on the new rally date, March 14, 2011. “This contradicts the false account of the Oyo state government,” he added. In a statement signed by Prince Dotun Oyelade, Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Communications, he said they were shocked that CPC was roping in the Oyo State Government in a straightforward administrative muddle it created for itself.
“We are even bemused that, Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Presidential running mate is threatening that his party must hold its rally at Mapo tomorrow, when the same party had booked its rally for last Friday and got documented clearance for that day only to change its mind that the rally will now hold Monday when Ibadan holding company in charge of the hall had already allocated that date to another client planning to host the President’s wife on Tuesday.
“We chose to believe that the Man of God must have been misquoted.”
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