 Pitau B Labour Party fumes as thugs attack supporters in Lagos on Saturday's final rally ahead of the polls, and Serab calls on the International Criminal Court to probe growing cases of violence. This is Plus Politics, I am Mary-Anna Cohen. The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Pitau B and his party on Saturday fumed over the high level of political intolerance in Lagos state after suspected thugs attacked the party supporters and destroyed several vehicles. The Labour Party presidential campaign council called on the international community to hold the ruling of Progressive Congress, APC and Governor Bob Aditya Songhulu responsible for the attack, just as the Lagos state chapter of the APC has described the allegations as reckless and irresponsible. Now a few days to the polls, the Labour Party held their final rally in Lagos, getting ready for the elections. Joining us this cost this and more is Akin Olaouye. He is a public affairs analyst and the convener of the October 1 rally last year. Good to have you join us Akin. Always a pleasure. Let's talk about what happened over the weekend. For a lot of people it was just another rally, but then of course the videos started surfacing online. Most of the videos I saw came from the entertainer Chally Boy. I paid no attention at first because you know it's party politics, but then I kept seeing more and more of these videos. I'll start by asking why you think that these violence could be attributed to the Lagos state government or the APC? So I'll first start by saying the party, the Lagos presidential planning committee did a great job along with the support groups in organizing, making sure we had routes defined, again making transportation options available to people. And we said we wanted to make a very colorful display of the support that Peter would be enjoying here in Lagos, having rallies emerge from different LGA's with floats, having processions all the way to TBS and making it almost like a carnival. Show the beauty of Lagos. The fact that as Nigerians, as our democracy improves, we can show the world, improve the world that we are indeed on the right track. I think you know it's only unfair that some elements who I would attribute enjoy some layer of protection or perhaps cover from the state government because you would not allow criminality and don't we could thrive in broad daylight giving the extensive hours we saw violence be meted out against obedience on Saturday. So yes I think again it would not be reckless to state that perhaps there's some level of state involvement knowing fully well that again you have the police force, you have the military, you have the DSS all you know active here in Lagos and to sit idle for hours between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. reports of violence along Lake Expressway, you saw the bus that was parked on Thornmere Land Bridge, a tire taking off, no plate number, last month it would not allow people to move the bus because crazy traffic, Adelaide Bridge, you saw a gridlock there, people were being attacked, all of this you cannot say was unconnected to the fact that we had a rally where they expected a huge turn up. I'm still trying to understand how the government comes in here. Now you're blaming security agencies for not showing up to, I mean how often do we see security operatives turn up to places where acts of violence, even crime and criminality take place, how often, how sweet is that response? So something that we did that was very deliberate, when we published the rally routes we did so knowing that we wanted the public to be aware and make the government aware. If these criminal elements could see that we were having people as someone like Jack on there or perhaps at Yaba or somewhere in a Mubodo fame it's equally okay to say that security operatives could equally see this location and say you know perhaps it's a political rally that might just be that perhaps it's a possible unrest or maybe just you know the back and forth that you get, maybe we stay a lot more attentive, they didn't pay any attention to that so I first find that very very unusual. Secondly, last month which is the traffic agency Lagos and I just attributed to a park down for bus on the tip of Terminal Ambridge that caused a great luck and it sat there unchecked for hours. If you park a G1 or a Bentley at the tip of Terminal Ambridge they will not let that vehicle sit there for more than two minutes, how much more the yellow down for bus without a front wheel or without plate numbers. I just think again there was sort of the unmentioned support from the state government because last month I will say again is operated by the state government of Lagos and if they fail or they were derelict in their duties I will call that taxing support. Interesting, I'd like to know because I remember when there was a rally, an APC rally in Aqaibom I do remember that Governor Odo Mimano was responding to remarks that were made by the presidential candidate of the APC in Aqaibom State and he talks about the fact that he gave them security, he made sure that the stadium was open to them he gave them everything to make sure that they had a very safe and you know violence free rally. Can you say same of the Lagos State government where you accorded the security that you needed the protection and of course making sure that your candidates all of those who were you know at that particular rally were all safe and protected. So we obviously have a security apparatus as part of the campaign committee. I'm asking from the state government? Yes of course and I was getting to that and the security team would interface with the state government with the local authorities making sure their welfare plans security are protected around TBS inside of the arena but then again on the roads on the streets we expect lives and properties will be protected as well as the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association. It now appears as though that they target on the back of every obedient or every Labour Party member in Lagos State and this hostile environment that we're seeing, breed and fester under the watch of the state government is one that we are calling a lot of attention to. I would say this nobody would wake up and say the governor or the deputy governor or perhaps the cabinet would wake up and direct violence at opposition members but you need to make sure that as part of demonstrating the fact that we have good leadership and good governance you want to do everything within your control with making sure you're not embarrassed in that government seat. So and you're saying that this was not done? Oh no I mean there was a lack of leadership I would even go as far as saying that the reports of violence across the state has not even been addressed by the Lagos State Governor in every sane society when you see the spade of attacks in multiple you know areas in Lagos broad daylight we're not talking undercover of darkness any responsible state executive will stand up and say you know what not in my state and you've not seen any kinds of feedback or communications from the governor's office it just shows again for me tasking support uh the uh candidate on the labor party uh of labor party uh body by Rose Vivore actually made stops to visit a number of victims across hospitals in the state yesterday so I mean it's equally okay that the governor's office released a message and says you know perhaps we regret any you know violence we would investigate we'll look into it but none of that it's just dead silence and then if you now look at a Lagos state that has become very hostile territory for opposition parties you drive around the state there's not a billboard you find very little campaign uh what you call it insignia because you put it up they tear it down and many times there's even evidence where banky w showed videos on the street app page where it was Lagos state government officials in a vehicle basically washing down his postage so you have a very hostile environment in Lagos for politics at a point apc was an opposition party where you had a ruling party pdp uh you know at the federal level and if we had an environment where opposition was not allowed to thrive would they even be in office today is the question so I think we can do better we can be better and I think we must do better um I know that there are excuses uh such as there could have been people who are um somewhat followers of the party but not necessarily people from the government they could have been over zealous supporters of whatever party but again I'm just wondering why this has to be just the apc could this have not been any other person that is in a position of the labor party I'm just curious so the morning of the rally uh I think the night before we got a video which I mean an audio clip which has gone on twitter I was about to get to that uh and a ballet or I don't know what his title is don't know if he's deserving of that title I was basically promoting violence and threatening uh you know uh injury or perhaps harm on non apc supporters this morning you saw the leaked video from a party chief tain's residence uh Osho Mollehu again comrade as you like to call him someone that you would hope represents the best of what Nigeria uh you know uh has to offer as a labor man but no again when you see sponsored or perhaps promoted violence from people at the upper echelon of leadership in the apc it only goes as far as telling you that perhaps their foot soldiers are only carrying the bidding of the paymasters interesting um you know in my place there's a palace that says a marriage that's going to be good you know it from the bachelor's eve um and if we're seeing this much violence and not just in Lagos we've seen electoral violence over and over pre-campaign violence we've seen it happening um Zamfara we saw it happening Kaduna and it's spreading in lips and bounds yes a few condemnations here and there but do you see an active will to put an end to this or are we going to see same during the elections can we say that people can go out and vote on the election day without fear of being attacked so what what has fueled this uh new movement the obedient movement the obi dati campaign has been the energy of the youth and i think uh the average Nigerian youth you know has been subjected to extreme poverty unemployment uh skyrocketing forex rates you look at you know uh a very insecure nation where you can't even traverse you know across communities and there's just this palpable anger many feel and i'm only saying this because as part of the processions we've we've had we had to live through and express every day i think we've become very defiant right we now are a generation that says we will you know achieve anything we want to regardless of the odds stacked against us so coming out election day in mass numbers i don't think it's going to be a problem again there are equally others that will maybe concerned and i think this attempt to perhaps victimize or inflict violence is an attempt to promote voter apathy where people stay home they're scared of coming up because again from 1990 day you've heard and seen you know again evidence of violence at polling units and i think it becomes something has become accustomed to Nigerians mothers locking doors telling their kids not to go out and vote hide your head politics is for the worst of our society and we are saying no as a generation we will rewrite the blueprint of politics in Nigeria gone are the days of politics where you people people to mobilize to fill up tbs gone are the days of politics where we will print the candidate space on an indomie noodle sachet gone are the days where you would again show up to the polling unit and pay people to vote we will be that generation that does it differently so bring your worst deploy your thugs unleash any amount of violence we will stand at the polls on election day and vote obi dati and vote good people into office because Nigeria has to be good in our lifetime let me bring up a situation between pfn and your presidential candidates it's one of the biggest stories first it was forwarded messages with the signature of some person with the pfn saying that your presidential candidate had given two billionaire to the pesticostal fellowship of Nigeria which has one way or the other cost to stay even though the group has said they don't know anything about this money but your party is touted to say we don't give money so how did your presidential candidate come about two billionaire uh the peter i obi i know uh someone i've even again had extensive conversations with personally will not even drop an envelope of 200 000 to even start with talk more two billion how much is labor party worth to even start with so it's laughable when you would sit and come up with propaganda at least find people that have phd's in propaganda to do your dirty dealing you take the letterhead of a church of an individual you go to that address you can't even find it uh equally the uh the individual involved has actually released a video recording again dissociate himself from any such and you start asking yourself at what point will propaganda and violence cease to exist in our politics also disenfranchisement of voters when are we going to do away with this kind of nasty politics i call it amala politics and politics of thugry and again as a movement as a party from obi and dati two very decent gentlemen and equally the party leadership with uh chairman aburi all you hear is hey get your pvc get out there promote your candidate and vote you don't hear any of this other nonsense from the labor party camp you hear you you rarely will find people promoting propaganda we don't have time for that because we have a manifesto we have you know things we need to do for nigeria to move this country forward taking this country from consumption from consumption to production let's talk about policies let's talk about what will make nigeria a great nation that on born generations will be proud of nobody has time for religious and you know ethnic bigotry that you've seen the apc promote in the last few days and when i say the apc you have the likes of festus ke amor the bio onanugas of the world these are what i call political hacks political jobless if i would even tie to them that because again you've been in power for the last eight years as a ruling party run on your party's accomplishments and leave propaganda alone but here we are trying to divide this country where we should be uniting each other talking about bringing it back to legos again um the campaign rally we saw videos and pictures by the opposition several people posting that she was an empty you know tbs and some some sort of a a jest about um oh is this the crowd were the obedience and we saw a lot of it um um it's interesting that um we also had um a similar drama with the opposition um where we saw pictures also that were posted many would say allegedly those pictures were taken from a crowd from outside of the country um what was the turnout like for the obi campaign in legos yes we saw the videos uh at alaba and all but then um a lot of people also query the numbers of people who show up at campaigns does it amount to the number of people who will show up on election day to vote because it looks like some form of um for the ones of because we're on tv i don't want to say it's it's like a contest of sorts my crowd is bigger than your crowd uh but what does that amount to an election day so the the the primary reason tbs was chosen was because of the security architecture it offers it's an enclosed space uh that allows for um security outfits to be able to control access uh equally public safety um we were not even looking for an arena to compete in terms of size although uh we would have had a greater turnout if you did not have turd me land bridge being blocked off lecky expressway being blocked off and again attacks and promotion of violence against innocent nigerians looking to express their freedom of association i would say this you walk into a banking hall in the middle of a market and you find a thousand customers in line the thousand customers in line does not reflect the total deposit in the bank account of the account holder so this whole politics of again mobilizing people paying them ten ten thousand a two thousand a putting them in face caps and t-shirts with abado print on it or perhaps you know uh rallying people from different what i call voting blocks market women using poverty where you're shutting down markets and again imposing on cities of a nation against their will freedom of participation as not a choice but an expectation no markets were closed in lego's for the obida t rally compared to when apc had their rallying lego's go and verify every market in lego's was open nigerians were allowed to go about their businesses employers did not mandate their staff even where they are labor party obedient supporters to say oh you cannot come to work today you're coming to tbs so that arena that kind of atmosphere of politics where we is what we want freedom of association so i apologize to the apc heads we did not shut down markets and force people into tbs perhaps uh is not how we operate uh we want a country where people feel like they can choose to do whatever they want even when they have government authority with that big stick that can perhaps impose on them and you equally see what the obida t campaign has brought about to politics in lego's for the first time in the history of this state you are seeing people from all walks of life all ethnic all ethnicities religion saying you know what we believe in this candidate his message resonates and we will turn out to vote now there's this false narrative that when you pack a stadium and you have rented crowds and unfortunately the two ruling the two establishment parties other than labor party have a talent at mobilizing they have to clap for them when you fill up rallies or arenas and say look at all these people we have tremendous support out there it's a lie it's political deceit we only wanted people that felt the need to come out to hear peter always message it was not a show of strength or perhaps using that as optics to say oh when we get to election day because we could fill up tbs with a hundred thousand people therefore we're going to win the election no we are campaigning we're working hard and there's this you know uh narrative out there that oh you know uh we're going to win apc is going to win only if you're going to cheat is when you truly say you're going to win we are working to win we're working to win the hearts and minds of nigerians but isn't that the spirit you're supposed to go into any contest with being certain that you you will win because i'm i'm guessing if you go into a contest with the the fittest mentality then you're not really certain no no we're not saying what not it's nothing about if i am contesting against you i'm i have to keep saying maybe we have the number of voters to win in legos we are working to win so it's one thing to wake up in a country where it's you know it's a democracy and say oh we have won as though you're going to write the results gone are those days i mean kudos to the president for signing electoral act reform elections are different in nigeria 2015 and 2019 citizens can stand at the polling unit 300 meters from the ballot box observe watch and equally become stakeholders in politics gone are the days where party agents can have the what i call dubious dealings and do what they want or whatever they wish citizens will participate so we are saying to ourselves we're working to win legos which again apc is held ground we will take ground in legos we will campaign hard we will win the hearts and minds we will win the presidential we will work to win the gubernatorial and legos we put in the hands of more deserving leaders that can offer good governance so staying with you know the elections um i'm going to talk about major concerns now the ionic has been quoted to say that 200 plus polling units will be disenfranchised because elections will not hold in those polling units uh what are your concerns about this release because uh there have been fillers over time that you know uh there might be surprises just a few days before elections is this one of those surprises that you're envisaged so i think um you have to give ionic kudos um where they deserve their flowers although many of us feel very disgruntled about the pvc process uh we think pvc um you know uh perhaps our distribution should occur perhaps a day to election uh but that aside um ionic being transparent in identifying communities i read that memo where there were no registered voters where again perhaps there might be some level of insecurity that makes it virtually impossible to hold elections 240 out of over 190 000 is a drop of sand in the bucket so i don't think we will cry you know over 240 uh polling units now it will be sad that i wake up on election day i walked a polling unit and find out that elections are not holding that's why you see many of us being concerned that the legos n u r t w is lobbying to transport voting materials we don't want any of that because again we know the n u r t w is a voting arm of the uh establishment party so as long as you don't have those types of scenarios i think we're just fine and ionic being professional being upfront communicating transparently is what we truly deserve let's talk about i mean today is world radio day i know we're not on radio it's tv but it's very intriguing the the theme of today's um celebration it's talking about the media the radio and peace and peace is the word here the operating word um what is the labor party doing to make sure that the message of peace is preached because we cannot have free for incredible elections if we don't have a peaceful atmosphere for that to happen and we know with all of the problems that ionic is facing with the burning of the offices the attack on some of their personnel and now we're seeing attacks on political parties whether it be pdp labor party and we've seen so many things my next guest is obviously going to talk about you know taking this to the um to the courts the international courts but how is the labor party because again there are people who would say that the labor party follow us some very overzealous ones on social media not necessarily as peaceful as we'd want to so are you preaching the message of peace even as you are also propagating a kind of Nigeria that you want to see we need peace in that type of Nigeria right yeah so it's um i'll first start by saying the average obedience the average labor party supporter is only again seeking a country that works a country in which the son of nobody can become somebody a country in which the unborn generation will meet and be proud of the people that were here before them a country in which my green passport is respected across the world a country in which my leader stands on a podium and addresses other nations and we are held to a very high esteem now i say this because you've never heard obi or dati obi obi dati perhaps i combine both of them promote violence or hostility in any of their messages even down to the labor party leadership you would not find that go and verify now people would always attribute violence and perhaps you know hateful conversations to some of the conversations on twitter now i've never seen any obedient leave twitter walk to somebody else's house on the machete and say i'm going to hurt you so yes when people have this conversation and we call it bass boost okay within you know the gen z or perhaps a new era of new media yeah to some extent it's part of what makes it you know engaging but then again people ought to be civil in their discourse and how they conversate because after elections relationships should remain although some people don't need to be you don't have to treat some people nice on social media just give any hate and vitro they promote when they do that you dish it back to them now i'm going to say this as a closing remark on that question in legos as you've seen we came out october 1st we are perhaps in our thousands had helped peaceful rallies not destruction not one record of violence we came out last saturday peacefully well organized not planning to destroy or to cause any kind of mayhem but we were met with a violent attack by again oscrupulus characters connected to the ruling party i would state that and i would say this for every obedient listening we will never retaliate you did not see one instance of retaliation where people were being attacked and then a reinforcement group went there and said oh let's go and have you know a few day none of that happened so it only tells you a lot about the character of the individuals supporting the candidates and the people waiting to vote on february 25 2023 well i can allow you is the public affairs analyst and the convener of the october 1 rally that held last year 2022 always a pleasure to have you in the studio thank you so much for being here well we'll take a quick break when we return we'll be discussing seraph's petition over campaign attacks across the country stay with us