Ahead of Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Lagos, Chief Bode George, an elder statesman, has raised the alarm over the threat to the life of the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour.
At a press conference held in Lagos, George, who is one of the leaders of the concerned group called ‘Omo Eko Pataki,’ said there has been a threat over the life of Labour Party gubernatorial flagbearer in Lagos, hence the need for the group to voice out so that what happened to late Funso Williams would not repeat itself.
“We wish to inform Nigerians about the heinous plan, to secretly eliminate the Labour Party Governorship Candidate, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour, the latest move by the take Lagos occupiers, to take him out of circulation before the election on Saturday.
“It’s not a matter of party, the essence of life is to open yourself to protect others and I told you that Funsho william is my younger brother. I was in the villa when the president then called me that I am just getting a report that they have killed Funsho Williams, they gave me a presidential plane to come down and I saw his corpse, so we don’t want a repeat.
“We, hereby, warn that, should anything happen to this vibrant bonafide Lagosian, who fate has thrown up to free our dear state from the stranglehold of marauders, Nigerians should know who to hold,” George said.
The former PDP Deputy National Chairman, however, urged the security agencies to up their game ahead of the election, accusing the All Progressive Congress, APC party of putting in place a strategy to foster voters’ apathy.
“As we speak, there are grand designs, to provoke the peace-loving Nigerians, whose resolve is to effect change through the ballot box on Saturday, as threats are being issued against voters suspected to be willing to vote against incumbency.
“To this disposition, we, the Omo Eko Pataki, say it is the most heinous crime against humanity in this 21st century, and condemn such in all its entirety.
“We reject this divisive politics of annihilation of innocent Nigerians, which seek to create anarchy and provoke the anger of the citizenry. We wish to remind all the non-Lagosians agents of the Lagos State Government, that Nigerians have lived together in peace, irrespective of any political party in power,” he said.
He urged voters to exercise their franchise without a modicum of fear, calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure transparency of the exercise.
“We equally urge the electorate in Lagos to go out in their numbers on Saturday, to vote against the plundering that has bedevilled our prosperous state for over two decades as adequate security is assured to everyone out to exercise their civic responsibility.
“We also call on INEC, to ensure the use of a transformational BVAS regime, for the transparency of the exercise, a departure from the February 25 archaic system, where result sheets were moved manually from polling units.
Asked if the PDP might merge with LP ahead of the gubernatorial election in Lagos, the PDP chieftain said discussions have been under the pipeline.
“24 hours in politics is a very long time, people are discussing at various levels from Abuja to local government because everybody has realized that the electorate is bigger than card-carrying members of your party,” he said.
