Nigeria Content Online

An open clash
between the Oyo state government and members of the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) is imminent in Ibadan today (Monday) following
the decision of the state government to ban the opposition party from
using Mapo Hall, Ibadan for its scheduled presidential rally.

The ancient Mapo
hall is the crux of the matter, as the CPC is insisting that it would
use the hall for its Southwest presidential campaign rally scheduled
for Monday, while the state government seems not favourably disposed to
that. Though the party had paid for the use of the hall, the management
of the centre has proposed a refund, citing an ‘‘order from above” as
an excuse for them to disallow the party from using the venue. They
specifically hinged their reason on the planned visit of Patience
Jonathan, wife of the President to the state on Tuesday (the following
day).

However, Yinka
Odumakin, spokesperson to the CPC presidential candidate, Muhamadu
Buhari, said yesterday that since the party had complied with the
existing laws of the land, the rally will hold as earlier scheduled. He
said his group would not succumb to any form of intimidation from the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). ‘‘They (the PDP) have denied us
venues in Niger and Adamawa states. There comes a time when ‘enough is
enough,” Mr Odumakin said. “We ask President Jonathan to hold the
leash on his attack dogs as it smacks of hypocrisy for him to be
pretending to be calling peace parleys with other presidential
candidates while his agents are working against peace. We wish to sound
it loud and clear again that all these shenanigans will not stop the
Buhari/Bakare hurricane that is blowing away the umbrella of deception
all over Nigeria.”

On time

Positing that the
president had buried the mantra of rule of law with the remains of his
predecessor, Umar Musa Yar’Adua, Mr. Odumakin stated that the CPC
viewed the development as a furtherance of abuse of power of incumbency
by the present administration. “We want Nigerians to help us ask if
Mrs. Patience Jonathan will ask somebody not to hold a wedding ceremony
at an event centre because she intends using the place the following
day if she were a private citizen,” he said.

The state
government blamed the ‘‘lack of organisation” of the state chapter of
the party for the disagreement.But Mr Odumakin disagreed with the state
government’s defence that the CPC caused the development by changing
the date of its rally several times, insisting that the party booked
the hall for March 14, 2011.

The spokesperson
made available to the press the receipt of the payment to contradict
‘‘the false account of the Oyo state government”.