Protest: Police ban in order - PDP

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The Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for rejecting the police ban on unauthorized public procession and protest in Kwara State. The PDP says that by rejecting the order the APC leadership have now concretely confirmed the fears of Kwarans that the APC is unruly and deviant.

All the police command seeks to prevent is the continued degeneration of the security of the state and nothing more. It is not targeted at the APC alone but all groups and individuals irrespective of their political leaning. So, why is the APC crying more than other institutions that are affected by the order? Does the APC have other motives other than what it is making the public to believe?

As far as we are concerned, we believe that the police would not have handed down the banning order but for the violent conduct of some members of the APC in Kwara State. And as an institution whose primary responsibility is to protect lives and property in the state, the police would not stand by while the APC turns the state into a theatre of war. 

For instance, over the last two weeks, under the guise of rallies and public processions, members of the APC in Kwara have wrecked untoward havoc on the lives and properties of Kwarans. This situation came to its head on Friday, 15th August, 2014 when some sponsored APC thugs invaded the Ode Belgore and Alege Compound polling units in Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State and assaulted innocents PDP members who had queued to collect their Permanent Voters' Cards (PVC), including an innocent NYSC youth corps member, whose only offence was his insistence on due process. But instead of owing up to the criminal conducts of its members, the APC has characteristically turned the table against the victims of their crime.

The following day, Saturday, 17th August, 2014, some APC members in Ode Opobiyi polling unit, Ilorin West Local Government Area, in obvious attempt to provoke majority PDP members, also reportedly swept the footprint of a prominent chieftain of the PDP in the area. But for the maturity of the members of the PDP who are in the majority in the area, the situation might have degenerated into a violent confrontation. 

Would the police have banned rallies and political gatherings around the registration points if the APC had not moved to subvert the rule of the game? Would the police have placed a temporary embargo on public procession if the APC had acted within the confines of the law? These are the questions that all right thinking members of the public are now asking.

It is our contention that the right of the APC to protest or hold rallies in whatever guise, is not elastic, it is subject to their leaders' responsibility to ensure decorum and sanity - a commitment which the APC leadership has unfortunately not been able to extract from its members across the state. This is the spirit and the letters of S. 48 of the 1999 constitution which creates exceptions where right could be deviated upon when the collective security of the people is at stake.

It therefore behoves on the leadership of the APC to call their violent members to order, especially as INEC commences the second round of the registration exercise. 
 
As a peace loving party, we are in full support of the bid by the Kwara police command to stem the tide of violence that now threatens the corporate existence of Kwara State, no thanks to the violent activity of the APC in the state. 

We are confident that the police would relax its order as soon as the political class in Kwara, particularly the APC, show a firmer commitment to uphold the sanctity of the rule of law and the security of lives and property of the citizens of the state.

Rex. Olawoye
Publicity Secretary





From: amofin@hotmail.com
To: kwarapdp@hotmail.com
Subject: Kwara APC rejects ban
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:14:29 +0000

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Kwara State chapter has dismissed the ban on rallies and political meetings by Kwara State Police Command as an affront to democracy and Nigerian Constitution.


The APC said, "the Nigerian Police Force 
(NPF) as an institution established by Law, must allow itself to be guided by Law and History rather than arbitrariness.


In a statement issued at Ilorin, Tuesday, by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, the APC said, "the ban is not only illegal and unwarranted, it is also null and void in the face of Nigerian constitution".


"The Police Command lacks such powers to ban rallies, procession and political meetings in Kwara State, only the Governor of Kwara State who doubles as the Chief Security Officer of Kwara State has such constitutional powers.


"The fundamental rights to freedom of conscience, expression, assembly and association of the good people of Kwara State as guaranteed by sections 38, 39 and 40 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can not be unilaterally violated by the NPF, an institution responsible for the enforcement of same fundamental human rights.


On the directive that party agents should steer clear of polling units during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, the APC said, "CVR exercises are conducted by INEC not the Police Command. It was INEC that requested the participation of political parties and deployment of party agents to polling booths. In any electoral process, the duty of the police is to ensure compliance with INEC laws and guidelines, not to give counter unlawful orders".


"The Kwara State Police Command should be reminded that when a Commissioner of Police attempted to impose ban on political rallies in Rivers State, the ban was defeated by Law and the people of Rivers State.


"Again, when a Commissioner of Police banned rallies and protests at Abuja in June, 2014. The Inspector-General of Police overruled the ban and reiterated that Nigerians have the rights to organise protests and rallies.


"Aside facts, that the statement conveying the purported ban on political rallies is conspicuously devoid of why political rallies were banned and where the Police Command derived such powers, there is fundamentally no basics for such ban in Kwara State.


"The APC holds that the rights of Kwarans must not be infringed upon by the police. The Police Command should halt any attempt to arrest the freedom of our people. Kwara State is not under siege, no form of siege not even Police siege is unacceptable to our party and the people of Kwara State.


"Since we have highlighted plus proved without doubt that the ban on political meetings and rallies is illegal and unconstitutional, the Kwara State Police Command should summon the courage to reverse itself on the unlawful ban forthwith.", the statement read.


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