PDP vs ACN over Lagos

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, were yesterday mobilsing for a show of political supremacy in Lagos in five rival major political campaign rallies in the nation’s commercial capital
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While President Goodluck Jonathan is billed to address his first major campaign rally in central Lagos, the ACN was, on its part, mobilsiing for major rallies in Lagos Mainland and three outskirts of the commercial city.
Ahead of what promises to be a tasking security endeavour, the Police yesterday warned miscreants and troublemakers to keep off from the designated venues of the campaign rally, warning that it had mobilized sufficient men to keep the peace.
The rallies are coming in the wake of renewed political jibes between both parties ahead of the forthcoming general elections. President Jonathan had opened the offensive with his assertion at a rally in Ibadan where he said the nation could not afford to leave the South-West in the control of rascals, a jibe that was immediately rebuffed by some of the prominent chieftains of the ACN in the region.
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, had poked the Federal Government for its abandonment of Oshodi Apapa expressway, describing it as a national embarrassment, that the PDP controlled government had turned the road linking the country’s major sea port to its major airport into an eyesore.
The Lagos PDP rally to be addressed by President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo, is expected to be witnessed by heavyweights of the party drawn from across the country. It could not be confirmed yesterday if the just released chieftain of the PDP in Lagos State, Chief Bode George, would be at the PDP rally.
Secretary of Lagos State chapter of the PDP, Captain Tunji Shelle, described it as worrisome that the ACN fixed its rallies on the same day the PDP was holding its own presidential rally in Lagos.
Affirming that the security agencies should have checked the situation, he said: “I don’t know what they want to achieve by allowing their own rally to coincide with that of PDP. But I expected that the security outfits should have sorted this out because such permission should not be granted to another party while the President is doing his own rally in the same neighbourhood.”
The Publicity Secretary of ACN in Lagos State, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, told Vanguard yesterday that the four rallies around the city were to sensistize their members for the flag-off of its gubernatorial campaign scheduled for this weekend.
“It is to prepare ourselves for the major rally on Saturday when we are supposed to flag off our gubernatorial campaign, so this is just to sensitize our members and let them know what is in the offing,” Mr. Igbokwe said yesterday.
While the PDP is holding its rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square, TBS, ACN rallies would be holding at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Volkswagen, Gbagada and Agege Stadium.
The Police yesterday also confirmed it had beefed up security, ahead of today’s rallies as it warned miscreants to stay off the designated areas where the rallies would hold, threatening to deal decisively with anyone who attempted to hijack the situation to perpetrate any act of criminality.
Both mobile and conventional policemen, according to Lagos Police spokesman, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, have been deployed to ensure security at the designated rally, assuring that the police officers would do everything possible to ensure peace during the rally .
“We are going to flood the entire places with policemen . There is cause for alarm because security has been beefed up”, Jinadu stated.
Vanguard reliably gathered that  Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers  under whose jurisdictions the rallies would hold, have been alerted to be on their toes.