Withdrawal of security: I won't be intimidated -Tambuwal

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has described the withdrawal of his police aides by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, as an abuse of power.

Speaking for the first time, since he was stripped of se­curity over his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tambuwal said he remained the Speaker and would not be intimidat­ed. He promised to continue working with progressive-minded people for the good of the country.

Tambuwal, who spoke at a 'Victory Colloquium' organ­ised for the Osun State Gover­nor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola by 'The GazelleNews,' with the theme: 'Osun Election: A Pathway for Nigeria's Demo­cratic Growth,' said although the matter was already in court, he had left what he de­scribed as a public drama to the people of Nigeria to decide whether the IGP was fair in his pronouncement.

Said he: 'Since the begin­ning of the public drama in Abuja, I have not made any public appearance or com­ments on it. Now that I am here, I will take the advantage of the ceremony to thank Ni­gerians, lovers of democracy, our true friends, members of human rights societies and others for the support extend­ed to me on the matter.

'Since the matter is in court, I will not say much, but I will draw public attention to what is public knowledge. Before my defection to the APC, the governor of Ondo State defected alongside with the speaker of the state legis­lature. I believe there was no pronouncement from the IGP to the effect that the speaker lost his seat.'

While commending Areg­besola on his victory in last August 9 governorship elec­tion, the Speaker recalled that the defeated PDP aided by Federal Government secu­rity agencies did all humanly possible to stop the people of Osun from exercising free and fair franchise.

'Aregbesola and his party, APC, won the election be­cause of the resolution of the people and their commitment to stand for justice.

'I commend the people of Osun for resisting those prin­cipalities; for resisting mem­bers of the Armed Forces that ordinarily should have been at Sambisa Forest at that time, but were misdirected and mis­applied on the peaceful people of Osun State and they wasted our bullets; but I doff my cap for the people of Osun State.'

In his address, National Le­gal Adviser of APC, Dr. Muiz Adeyemi Banire, who was the guest speaker, with the for­mer factional chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Ajibola Bashiru as modera­tors, urged political parties not to allow religious sentiment to determine their choice of candidates in the coming gen­eral elections. According to him, allowing religious senti­ments to overshadow popular­ity, performance and credibil­ity would spell doom for the country.

He stated that Governor Aregbesola and the APC won the August 9 governor­ship election because of the popularity of the party's flag-bearer.

In his closing remark, Areg­besola attributed his victory at the last poll to the determina­tion of Osun people to resist tyranny and oppression.

'Our victory, which we are celebrating today, did not come cheap in Osun; we fought and fought but through the resilience and commit­ment of the people of Osun, we won. I must tell you that nothing was left undone to ensure that PDP won by all means,' the governor said. The Sun