Public Statement

Why the PDP want Tinubu incarcerated?

Text of a press conference addressed by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, lamco552003@yahoo.com

National Publicity Secretary, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) LAGOS

Friday 7th January 2011





BACKGROUND

A few weeks ago, precisely on Dec. 5th 2010, we alerted Nigerians to the surreptitious and dangerous moves being made to silence our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by those who are worried by his prime role in the ‘hurricane progressive’ that is sweeping across the South-west, and making its way to other parts of the country. We said these desperadoes will use everything in their arsenal, including the power of the state and even the final solution, a la Bola Ige, to silence Asiwaju Tinubu. We said President Goodluck Jonathan is under tremendous pressure to sign on to the plan, and that he had - as at the date we raised that alarm - resisted the pressure. Well, we can now tell you that President Jonathan seems to have finally succumbed to pressure by signing on to the evil plan. Now we have it on good authority that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice is being put under tremendous pressure to look for any offence, no matter how flimsy, to get Tinubu arrested and prosecuted - just to put him away. We understand that if he eventually capitulate under pressure, he may sign a warrant for Tinubu’s arrest anytime from now. We still do not know, specifically, what he will be arrested for, but we know why.



WHY TINUBU?

It is no longer news that the fortunes of our party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, have been growing in leaps and bounds. From one state, we now have four states. We are also making inroads into other parts of the country, from Akwa Ibom (Senator John James Akpanudoedehe has joined our party) to Imo (Ifeanyi Ararume and Achike Udenwa are on board), to Anambra (five members of the National Assembly have joined our party), to Rivers (Former Transport Minister Abiye Seikibo is with us), to Benue (where Senator George Akume and co have declared for our party), to Jigawa (where former Governor Saminu Turaki has hopped onto the progressive train), to Taraba (Senator Joel Danlami is on board), Bauchi (the entire CPC structure and executive have decamped to our party) and to Gombe (cabinet members have also decamped to our party), just to mention a few.



As our party’s fortunes rise, the prospect of the ruling PDP becomes dimmer and dimmer by the day. And as the 2011 general elections approach, it is becoming increasingly clear to the discerning that we are the toast of all Nigerians seeking better governance and the deepening of democracy. But there is more to it! Tinubu is seen as the architect of PDP’s deconstruction. And he has to be stopped at all cost! Whatever may be the reason for his impending arrest is a smokescreen. What offence could he have committed that has taken the authorities almost four years to seek his arrest? Is this coincidence in timing between the arrest and the forthcoming general elections not striking?



THE DESPERATE PLAN

Those behind this plot have been meeting across the country to hone their plan. In one of the meetings, they said everything must be done to stop the putative alliance between our party and the CPC - which they see as capable of ending the years of misrule by the PDP. Concerning our leader, Asiwaju Tinubu, the end-gamers are going for the final solution. Mere arrest for whatever reason may seem innocuous and routine, but it is just the first step. Their plan is to ultimately give Asiwaju Tinubu, while in detention, the Yar’Adua or Abiola treatment. They do not intend to let him return home alive! We are not crying wolf here, we have every reason to worry, to speak out and to alert Nigerians to this evil plan.



PDP/PPRESIDENT JONATHAN’S DESPERATION

We have had reasons to warn about the growing desperation of the PDP and its candidates, as the 2011 general elections approach. We have called attention of Nigerians to the scorched-earth, intra-party campaign within the PDP, particularly between the two presidential aspirants who have thrown everything at each other to gain an upper hand. We have expressed concern that if the candidates can go for each other’s jugular in an intra-party campaign, they will probably take the campaign a notch higher when they confront candidates from other parties.



Well, the answers are coming in earlier than we even anticipated. For President Goodluck Jonathan, the hawks seem to have finally convinced him that it is either he wins the presidency or our democracy is truncated. The signs of his growing desperation are there for all to see: Six of the PDP state Governors recently contributed 3 billion Naira for his campaign, at a time that Nigerians are barely making ends meet, that roads are becoming more and more impassable and hospitals are not even up to consulting clinics! Yet no one has set the EFCC/ICPC after those behind what amounts to using our commonwealth to satisfy the whims and caprice of one man.



Also, 1 billion dollars have been secretly and hurriedly shared out to the states from the excess crude oil accounts, just to secure support for President Jonathan and give his backers the necessary war chest needed to fight ahead of April’s election. According to reports, the money was shared out in a foreign currency, at the detriment of our own currency. This is nothing but economic sabotage, yet there is not a whimper from those whose duty it is to check things like this, and no arrests warrants have been signed in respect of this.



In recent times, bombs have been exploding across the country in an unprecedented degeneration of security in a country that is not at war. Hundreds have been killed or maimed. Do we know those behind this? Do we know their motives? Could it be part of the end game? We leave Nigerians to judge for themselves. And PDP primaries have been marred by violence, killings and maiming, just to highlight the desperation that is growing within the ranks of the PDP.



OUR STAND

Finally, it is clear that the season of anomie is here, and all Nigerians must speak up and do everything within their power and in accordance with the law to stop those who are bent on either having their way or truncating this democracy.



On our part, we will not sit back and fold our arms while those who fought for the democracy we are enjoying today are demonised and decapitated.



We will not allow those who were mere cheerleaders when the likes of Tinubu were in the trenches to now bring down the house over everyone just to have their way.



We will do everything within the law to ensure that Nigeria survives and that our democracy thrives.



We call on all Nigerians to reject the desperation of the PDP and President Jonathan to stop the wind of change blowing across the country.



We reject the targeting of Tinubu whom they see as the architect of the change that is threatening the PDP.



We warn that nothing must happen to this icon of democracy and good governance, so as not to set in motion a chain of events the end of which no one can predict!



And for Nigerians who may think this is mere politics, we leave them with the eternal words of Pastor Martin Niemoller:



First they came for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn’t speak up,

because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

and by that time there was no one

left to speak up for me.



Ends.