As members of the opposition parties get ready to carry out their planned mass action today, in protest of the just concluded general election, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, has ordered the immediate arrest of any person or group of persons who may want to hide under the guise of today�s May Day celebration to forment trouble.
This is coming just as the President-elect, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar�Adua also appealed to members of the opposition parties calling for mass action against his victory to channel whatever grievances through the approved constitutional means.
The President-elect also be presented with his Certificate of Return by the Independent National Elec-toral Commission (INEC) tomorrow in Abuja.
There may also have been a crack in the rank and file of the organisers of the mass protest as most parties have dumped the plan.
But THISDAY gathered last night that the Presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari, alongside the presidential candidate of the defunct National Advance Party (NAP), would lead the protest in Lagos.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, the Insp-ector General of Police said he had given orders to all the Commissioners of Police in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to clamp down on illegal processions saying �minimum force� would be used to enforce the provisions of the Public Order Act.
In his words, �Tomorrow (today) is May Day and naturally, workers would participate in May Day. However, in the interest of public order and peace, we are not going to allow any form of procession outside designated grounds where they are having the rallies.
�I have given orders to my Commissioners of Police all over the federation to use minimum force or force that is more than the minimum, if the need arises, to ensure that we don�t have any rally without police permit outside the designated points.�
He said the Police was taking pre-emptive action to forestall the break down of law and order.
�We have the duty to enforce the law and in enforcing the law there are certain actions we have to take, maybe people would see more armoured vehicles outside, maybe they see more policemen around patrolling, maybe you may see more stop and search points or even see other security agencies at key and vulnerable points.
�These are measures consistent with creating stability and security within the society. It is not unusual, we just want people to bear with us if we inconvenience you during this period.�
According to Ehindero, �Anybody or any group can do anything or any procession within the designated grounds for the May Day celebration, but any procession outside the designated points would be forcefully dispersed. The law is greater than any person no matter his position in the society. We will follow the provisions in the Public Order Act to the letter, because we are out to enforce the law, ensure peace and protect citizens.�
He lamented the death of 37 policemen who lost their lives on electoral duties stressing, �This will never happen again. Our police stations must be well fortified, we will not allow our police stations to be burnt or our policemen killed while performing their duties.
�That does not mean we will shoot at sight. I believe in human rights, I believe in the sanctity of human person but Police also have their own rights. There is need for members of the public to treat policemen with equal concern and respect while performing their duties.�
In the same vein, President-elect Yar�Adua, while suing for understanding also advised that arbitrariness and chaos is not an alternative to democracy, adding that the advocates of today�s mass action should bear in mind that no nation develops through disrespect for the rule of law and stated constitutional provisions.
Yar�Adua, who spoke to newsmen in Abuja after inspecting his new office as the President-elect, located inside the Akinola Aguda Lodge of the Presidential Villa, said � no nation survives without the rule of law. We survive as a nation under the rule of law and the constitution.�
According to him, �The election took place under the rule of law and all issues and grievances will be addressed under the constitutional process. If we recognise the constitution and contested the election under the provisions of the rule of law, then all grievances must be addressed under the rule of law.�
�It is within the law that we must develop as a nation. We can never develop as a nation without respect for the constitution and the rule of law. We must have the discipline, the patience and the patriotism to respect the constitution and respect the rule of the law.�
Asked whether he has contacted his opponents in the last presidential election to extend hands of friendship, Yar�Adua said, �Normally it is the other way round. It is those who lose out in elections that should reach out to the winners, but all the same, I have through informal ways reached out to the opposition candidates through the telephone.�
He reiterated that he has openly called for an all-inclusive government.
Meanwhile, the Northern Patriotic Front (NPF), has advised Nigerians to shun the call for mass actions by some of the opposition parties, urging that instead they should join hands with Yar�Adua to make the nation a greater one.
In a news release made available to THISDAY, the Vice-Presidential Candidate of African Political System (APS), Alhaji Ali Abacha, who is also the Chairman of the NPF, stated that �inspite of the irregularities which were alleged to have been profound in the elections, the peace, unity and progress of the country should be paramount to all and therefore any act that could lead to violence should not be encouraged in any quarters�
Also, a respected Islamic leader, Sheikh Sheriff Ibrahim Saleh cautioned Nigerians to resist any attempt by politicians to use them in the guise of embarking on a mass protest, saying instead of having any positive impact it might in fact draw the nation back.
The Islamic scholar who is Chairman, Fatwa Committees of both the Jama’atu Nasril Islam-Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (JNI-SCIA) and Assembly of Muslims in Nigeria(AMIN), made the plea in an interactive session with newsmen in Maiduguri yesterday.
He said Nigerians have always prayed for peace in the past and Allah in his mercy have continued to listen to these prayers, stressing that this should not be an exception considering the situation the country have found itself because of the concluded elections.
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) also dissociated itself from the planned protest.
Speaking to newsmen, Chairman of CNPP, Dr Olapade Agoro, urged aggrieved persons and political parties to use dialogue to resolve issues rather than embarking on a protest which could result in violence.
He said most of the people calling for protests will run away in the heat of fracas, leaving innocent Nigerians to suffer.
But the Action Congress (AC), in a congratulatory message Nigerian workers on the occasion of the Workers� Day said, �we greet Nigeria�s long-suffering workers for their perseverance, especially in the past eight years when they have laboured under the yoke of grinding poverty occasioned by job losses, declining earning power and massive inflation.�
The party said it is �particularly sad that the workers� hopes of throwing off their backs those who imposed the yoke on them, through free, fair and creditable elections, have been dashed by the unprecedentedly-rigged general elections of 14, 21 and 29 April general elections�
Lai Mohamed, the Publicity Secretary of the Party who signed the statement, disclosed that AC is �worried that the emerging one-party state under the PDP cannot ease the pains of our already overburdened workers, because the so-called new dispensation will offer much of the same �reforms� that have left workers emaciated and the reformer fat cats smiling to the bank�
In a related development, Police in Kano yesteday placed indefinite ban on rallies, procession and demonstration anywhere in the state.
Police spokesman in the state, DSP. Baba Mohammed, told THISDAY in telephone interview that police will strictly enforce the ban and advise people not to join the proposed mass action which he said is illegal and against the Public Order Act.
May12007