With apparent defeat staring him in the face going by the spate of the unfavourable judgments against his party at the Election Petition Tribunals, the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu has again released the sum of N500million to embarked on a 3million man-march in Akure as from Tuesday in his desperate bid to pressurize members of the Tribunal into giving him a favourable ruling in its judgment any moment from now, the State chapter of the Labour Party has revealed.

The proposed Agagu’s 3-million man-march innocuously tagged: “peace rally”  and which is expected to be graced by some governors from the South-West States, according to a release issued by the Director of Press of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Kolawole Olabisi on Sunday, is to be a follow-up to penultimate Friday’s show of strength by Agagu when over 5000 people mobilized to the venue of the Tribunal during the adoption of written addresses by the parties involved in the petition filed by Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of the LP against Agagu’s purported victory went haywire intimidating members of the LP.

“We wish to alert the whole world again of yet another move by Dr Olusegun Agagu to continue to cut corner and hang unto a mandate which was not given to him by the people of Ondo State. The latest in this insidious plan by Agagu is the release of a whopping N500million for the organization of a 3million man-march which though tagged Peace Rally has a sinister purpose. The rally which would be graced by some of his colleagues in the South-West, is aimed solely at boosting his flagging morale occasioned by his imminent defeat at the Tribunal which is on the verge of giving its judgment, mount a subtle pressure on the honorable members by intimidating them with the huge crowd who would be chanting pro-Agagu songs calling on them to allow him to continue in office. “All the 18 local government Chairmen had been given N20million each to mobilize at least 25,000 people each, kit and armed their thugs with Ankara fabrics and bring them to Akure the State capital as from Tuesday where they would be asked to take over the city chanting: ‘No Agagu, no peace; Allow Agagu to complete his term; Agagu is our man; No vacancy till 2011 in Alagbaka’ among others”

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According to the LP, thugs would use the occasion to embark on series of harassments, intimidation and maiming of opposition members in a renewed assault meant to cow the party leadership as from this week. While regretting that despite its strident cries in recent times about the systematic plundering of the State resources under sundry guises, Agagu had continued to release money meant for the development of the State for personal aggrandizements as most of the money so released ultimately ends up in his pockets and that of his aides while the people suffer, LP regretted that the N500million to be expended on this show of shame would have been better utilized for decaying infrastructures begging for urgent attention.

Says Olabisi: “Let Agagu and his acolytes in this journey to self perdition be aware that 20-billion man-march cannot cow us because we are armed with truth and their plans to subvert truth will fail as it has been failing with the unraveling of the truth about HOW Agagu got his mandate by the series of rulings by the Tribunal. On April 14, 2007, the people of Ondo State massively voted for Dr Olusegun Mimiko but Agagu thwarted the people’s wish by stealing the mandate given to Dr Mimiko. They expected us to fight but we chose the path of peace and honour because we don’t want any of the people of Ondo State to die. We went to court like the civilized people we are in Ondo State, as opposed to those who are not from Ondo State and who do not believe in Ondo State. We were bruised but not cowed in the last 18 months and now that Tribunal is about to do justice, Agagu who had initially boasted to the whole world that he won has unleashed terror on the people he is supposed to be serving, all in his desperation to continue in an office which does not belong to him any longer. “Agagu should let common sense prevail. He does not believe in peace contrary to his numerous allusions to peace. He should allow the Tribunal to do its job rather than cutting corners as his antics like the ones before it would fail by the grace of God.”

The LP pointedly said that Agagu’s plans was to deplete the treasury of the State by putting it in huge debt so that by the time a new administration comes, it would be saddled with servicing the huge debts for the next two years since he was sure that he would ultimately lose given events at the Tribunal.

The party therefore called on the security agencies in Ondo State to be aware of this new plan borne by the desperate Agagu regime to embark on large scale violence under the guise of a peace rally warning that “any person or persons found near or around the Tribunal trying to foment trouble should be dealt with, with the full weight of the law.”

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