It was a festival of boos at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally held in Ogun State on Monday, as President Muhammadu Buhari barely escaped being the target of an angry crowd. Trouble started when the President mounted the stage to present his speech. He spoke on the achievements of the APC administration, and although he was initially greeted with boos, the people later cheered him when he told them to vote for whomever they liked in the forthcoming elections. “That is your civic right to come out next Saturday and on the 2nd of March, and choose whoever you like in the parties. This is your right. So, there is no problem about it,” he said to the loud cheering of the people. Afterwards, it was time to endorse Dapo Abiodun as the APC governorship candidate. Abiodun stood to the left of the President and he was asked to move to Buhari’s right. However, as the President raised his left arm to endorse him as the APC candidate, the crowd went wild and hurled various objects at the stage where Buhari stood. The situation required the intervention of security operatives, who swiftly shielded the President from the attack. The rally ended abruptly as security operatives led Buhari and other party members off the stage.<doc-sep>The Peoples Democratic Party, on Monday, reacted to the violence that broke out at the All Progressives Congress rally in Ogun State. In a veiled reference to the TraderMoni Scheme, the opposition party noted that Nigerians could not be bought with N10,000, hence the violence unleashed at the Abeokuta, Ogun State presidential rally on Monday. On its verified Twitter handle, the PDP said, the violence was a direct result of the four years of alleged misrule of President Muhammadu Buhari. The PDP said, “The public pelting and jeering at Buhari and his APC during his election campaign rally in Abeokuta, Ogun state, is a direct response by Nigerians to his four years misrule as depicted in the expansion of poverty, corruption, divisiveness and bloodletting in our nation. “It is instructive to note that Mr. President was pelted in Abeokuta barely 24 hours after his Zamfara state rally on Sunday, where he attempted to incite Nigerians to join the APC in their planned resort to violence to derail the 2019 general election”. READ ALSO: Oshiomhole pelted with stones, as security men shield Buhari at Ogun rally PDP added that “The people of Ogun state, and indeed, the South West, have shown that they are in direct alignment with other states and geopolitical zones of our country in rejecting President Buhari and VP Osinbajo, whose administration has foisted so much pain and anguish to Nigerians. “Mr. President can now see that Nigerians cannot be bought with N10,000, as he was made to believe by the Vice President Osinbajo and members of the cabal in his Presidency. “The PDP, therefore, urges Buhari and the APC to read the handwriting on the wall and get ready to accept his inevitable defeat so that Nigerians can have a breath of fresh air under the leadership of Atiku , whose campaign has continued to receive rousing reception.”<doc-sep>
There is tension in Ogun State as supporters of the Allied People's Movement (APM) have taken over the presidential rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The rally has just ended in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, with President Muhammadu Buhari; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Bola Tinubu, APC National Leader; Adams Oshiomhole, APC National Chairman, among others in attendance. Trouble started when Rotimi Amaechi, Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, told the people not to make any error during the forthcoming election and support the APC for all contested positions in the state. However, when Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Governor of Ogun State, took the stage, he appealed to the party supporters to support Buhari’s reelection bid, but leave the matter of the governorship election till later. “When it’s March 2nd, we know what we’re going to do. The other one, on March 2nd, we will resolve it. This one is for President Muhammadu Buhari. Please I beg you in the name of God, please don’t be angry,” Amosun pleaded with the supporters. However, as Adams Oshiomhole took to the stage to present the flag of the party to Dapo Abiodun, the APC governorship candidate, the crowd went wild and hurled various objects at the Oshiomhole and Abiodun. Security operatives had to rush to shield the President from the objects. Osinbajo tried to pacify the crowd to initial success, but the crowd soon went so berserk that Oshiomhole, traditionally the longest speaker at APC rallies, spoke for less than a minute after being boed and shouted down for close to five minutes.