-By Umar Bayo Abdulwahab
-Ilorin
There was sharp disagreement yesterday between the Kwara state chapters of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over the ban of public political rallies, processions, and protest by the state police command.
The police had on Tuesday in a statement issued by their Public Relations Officer (PPRO),Ajayi Okasanmi on behalf of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ambrose Aisabor, announced that “rallies, procession and political meetings have been suspended throughout the state with immediate effect”
While the state chapter of the PDP said the ban was in order, the APC rejected it. Reacting to the APC’s rejection of the ban, PDP in a statement by it Publicity Secretary, Rex Olawoye, said that “the APC leadership have now concretely confirmed the fears of Kwarans that the APC is unruly and deviant”.
It stated that “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,” he said.
The APC had on Tuesday kicked against the ban describing it as an “affront to democracy and Nigerian Constitution”.
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 cannot be unilaterally violated by the NPF, an institution responsible for the enforcement of same fundamental human rights,” APC said.
