Withdrawal of security: I won’t be intimidated –Tambuwal

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has described the withdrawal of his police aides by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, as an abuse of power.

Speaking for the first time, since he was stripped of se­curity over his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tambuwal said he remained the Speaker and would not be intimidat­ed. He promised to continue working with progressive-minded people for the good of the country.

Tambuwal, who spoke at a ‘Victory Colloquium’ organ­ised for the Osun State Gover­nor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola by ‘The GazelleNews,’ with the theme: “Osun Election: A Pathway for Nigeria’s Demo­cratic Growth,” said although the matter was already in court, he had left what he de­scribed as a public drama to the people of Nigeria to decide whether the IGP was fair in his pronouncement.

Said he: “Since the begin­ning of the public drama in Abuja, I have not made any public appearance or com­ments on it. Now that I am here, I will take the advantage of the ceremony to thank Ni­gerians, lovers of democracy, our true friends, members of human rights societies and others for the support extend­ed to me on the matter.

“Since the matter is in court, I will not say much, but I will draw public attention to what is public knowledge. Before my defection to the APC, the governor of Ondo State defected alongside with the speaker of the state legis­lature. I believe there was no pronouncement from the IGP to the effect that the speaker lost his seat.”

While commending Areg­besola on his victory in last August 9 governorship elec­tion, the Speaker recalled that the defeated PDP aided by Federal Government secu­rity agencies did all humanly possible to stop the people of Osun from exercising free and fair franchise.

“Aregbesola and his party, APC, won the election because of the resolution of the people and their commitment to stand for justice.

“I commend the people of Osun for resisting those principalities; for resisting members of the Armed Forces that ordinarily should have been at Sambisa Forest at that time, but were misdirected and misapplied on the peaceful people of Osun State and they wasted our bullets; but I doff my cap for the people of Osun State.”

In his address, National Le­gal Adviser of APC, Dr. Muiz Adeyemi Banire, who was the guest speaker, with the for­mer factional chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Ajibola Bashiru as modera­tors, urged political parties not to allow religious sentiment to determine their choice of candidates in the coming general elections. According to him, allowing religious senti­ments to overshadow popularity, performance and credibil­ity would spell doom for the country.

He stated that Governor Aregbesola and the APC won the August 9 governor­ship election because of the popularity of the party’s flag-bearer.

In his closing remark, Areg­besola attributed his victory at the last poll to the determination of Osun people to resist tyranny and oppression.

“Our victory, which we are celebrating today, did not come cheap in Osun; we fought and fought but through the resilience and commitment of the people of Osun, we won. I must tell you that nothing was left undone to ensure that PDP won by all means,” the governor said.