Politics
A pro-democracy coalition made up of civil society groups and youth movements, the Pro-Nigeria Group, has called on the United States Government to intervene in the threats of electoral violence in the upcoming presidential elections in Nigeria.
The group carried out a rally in support of violence-free elections on Wednesday, February 22, to the United States Embassy in the Central Business District of our nation’s capital, Abuja in which they called for action to stop alleged plots to mar the upcoming elections with violence.
In a statement issued to the press signed by its leaders, Olumide George, a tech professional and president of the Coalition of Youth Movements, and Stephanie Momoh, a lawyer and national secretary of the Pro-Nigeria Group, warned of a plot by political organisations linked to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Specifically, the group mentioned Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, the former head of the Lagos State branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), as “one of the arrowheads executing this nefarious plot”.
The group described the “disposition and actions” of the motorpark kingpin as portraying “an irony and tragedy of a political tool in the hands of desperate politicians”.
“It is disheartening to us, Nigerians living in Nigeria, particularly the youths that an individual (MC Oluomo) whose children live and school abroad, some of them in the United States of America, would engineer a plot to use other people’s children to spread violence in our country,” the group said.
“Two of MC Oluomo’s children, his twins – Taiwo and Kehinde Akinsanya – were celebrated by him on Instagram when they both graduated from state-owned universities in the state of Georgia in the United States.
“We are hereby calling on the Nigerian Police to invite Mr Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo, for questioning and obtain an undertaking that he would conduct himself in a responsible manner before, during, and after the elections,
“We are alerting the United States Government to the planned activities of MC Oluomo and calling on the US State Department to place him on a watchlist,” the statement added.
The coalition went on to call on the United States Government to withdraw the visas issued to MC Oluomo’s children and return them to Nigeria, declaring that the US should no longer serve as a safe haven for the children of mischief makers in Nigeria.
“We are also calling on the United States Government to withdraw the visa issues to the children of Mr Akinsanya, and they be returned to Nigeria,” the group declared.
“It is unjust for MC Oluomo to send his children to safety in America and other countries. At the same time, he uses other people’s children to perpetuate violence, endangering the lives of these youths.
“If MC Oluomo wishes that Lagos should be consumed by violence, it is only just that the violence should consume him and his children as well,” the group added.
The pro-democracy group went on to comment the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, and the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU) in supporting Nigeria for a successful election exercise.
“Our earnest desire is that the forthcoming general and state elections be peaceful. That the elections would be free, fair, and transparent and that the will of the people would be upheld at all levels,” the group said.
A.I
Tags: INEC MC Oluomo NURTW
