ELECTORAL VIOLENCE: We are attending to cases of voters killed, injured in Lagos during voting – Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour
*Says “Elections are not war”
*As “governance should be about protecting not shedding blood”
*With what happened in Lagos, others, we have gotten another Adolf Hitler – Ex-Customs Officer
By KEMI KASUMU
The Governorship Candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State for the March 18, 2023 election, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has said given reason why those who made the election a war were wrong and must be made to face justice.
This, he said, following last week’s call by President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who who said elections are over and the healing process should begin.
Since Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate in the February 25 election, made the call, several rejections have trailed it as critics including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, insisted that before reconciliation there must be justice.
Also reacting to the unprecedented incidences that characterised especially the March 18 elections in mainly Lagos, Kaduna, Ogun, Kano and Ricers states, a retired customs officer (name withheld) expressed a fear.
He said, “We have entered into era of yet another Adolf Hitler, if this is what election can be in the hands of politicians, who are yet to get power but are already using the power of state the way we saw during the governorship and state legislative elections on that date in Lagos, Kano, Ogun and other states.”
The Governorship election has, therefore, begun to shape the perception of International community and global press as to what is about to come. US Secretary of State Blinken recently avoided Nigeria during his Africa nations visit as he visited Nigeria’s neighbours with no thought about the country.
Also concerned citizens locally are calling for the Establishment in Nigeria, who thinks for the country, to ensure that winners who emerged from the flawed process should not be inaugurated until all ongoing cases surrounding the “very unacceptably violent” elections are resolved.
Those in this demand also include members of the Nigerian Senate, who had rejected results of particularly the presidential and national assembly elections, and had, in countering the Senate President Ahmed Lawan’s declaration of “no electronic transmission of election results in Electoral Law”, demanded that INEC must be made to comply with its own Guidelines, which made provisions for electronic transmission of results thus making it a law.
The DEFENDER reports that failure of INEC to comply with its own Guidelines of transmitting results electronically, which should have earned the country the honour of best elections in any election history in the world, led to the widespread of raw violence and thuggery cases recorded with many voters killed, many injured as others suffered suppression and intimidation.
In his specific reaction, Rhodes-Vivour said, “Elections are not war.”
He said, “Governance should be about protecting not shedding the blood of those you are meant to serve.
“I’ve spent the last days reaching out, attending to & making sure those hurt by the violence unleashed by the ruling party got treatment.”
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour said, “It’s also been process of tragedy, we have been reaching out to the families of those who lost their lives for simply wanting to exercise their civic duty by voting on Saturday (March 18), which the ruling party deemed it fit to unleash violence on their own constituents.”
In ensuring Lagos electorate he said, “I have not abandoned Lagosians, please if you were assaulted during the 2023 elections please fill this incident form along with your proof be it pictures or videos.
“We are most importantly providing financial assistance to those injured,” he said.
