The statement, released on Monday by Tinubu’s media aide, Sunday Dare, reads in full:
“The brutal disruption of the rally organized by the Save Rivers Movement in Rivers State on Sunday by the CP, Mbu-led police force under the directive of the Goodluck Jonathan administration adds another dimension to the dangerous course this government has charted.
“Instead of assuring liberty and democracy, the Jonathan administration now wars against human rights and the democratic freedom of the people to select their own leaders. This represents a sad rush backwards into a past best left behind. President Jonathan seeks to forfeit our democratic future to reclaim a dictatorial past.
“The people of Rivers State and of the Save Rivers Movement did nothing wrong. What the police did was criminal. The violent and direct attack on Senator Magnus Abe is a frontal assault against democracy. The Jonathan government, which is supposed to protect the public order, now constitutes threats against the very thing they have pledged to uphold. The Police have been unleashed against the People and the voice of dissent like bloodhounds against a defenseless, stationary prey.
“What so incensed them that they felt compelled to shoot and beat unarmed fellow citizens whose only defense was their voice and whose only offense was their political affiliation was not of the federal government’s choosing?
“We are now returning to a time, where having an independent mind or voice is a criminal offense. So disdainful of the law and its rule, the police no longer arrest.
“They are primed to shoot first, ask questions later. We are supposed to live in a constitutional democracy but we are burdened with a Police Force that has now become an agent provocateur and a tool of political repression. They are the partisan, strong-arm division of the Jonathan Presidency.
“The Police are no longer a neutral law enforcement body.
“The People’s rights to freedom of association, expression and liberty are constitutionally guaranteed but have been effectively curtailed by the Jonathan led government. The people have the inalienable right to choose or associate with any political party of their choice. Sadly, a Presidency that was a major beneficiary of constitutional democracy conspires in Abuja in to desecrate our political rights and mortgages our democracy.
“To voice an opinion or join a political group contrary to the wishes of Abuja is to place yourself in the crosshairs of the hired mercenaries and their hired guns. This government doles out money from the public treasury, not the private pockets of the Abuja despots, to service hired mercenaries and political thugs. It is a deep tragedy that the public’s money is being used to employ people and weapons to shoot at the public. This is the depths of political immorality.
“If published reports of the incident are true, the attack on Sen. Magnus Abe, and brutal confrontation with the people who are first and foremost bonafide citizens of Nigeria and members of our party, APC is condemnable. It is a harrowing sign of even more brutal repression that is to come and thus must be denounced.
“The Jonathan Presidency is willing to sacrifice the lives of countless Nigerians so that it can continue to lord it over Nigerians. If they could shoot a current Senator in broad daylight on a Sunday, imagine the mayhem they will set upon the average citizen seeking to advance his political rights. This was a premeditated act to squash public dissent and frighten the rank and file of the political opposition.
“Their purpose is not to govern Nigeria but to break down the rule of law and our democratic institutions so that they may own Nigeria. We have seen this show before.
“The illegal conduct of the Police in Rivers should be called what it is; uniformed gangsters, a coup against democracy. The rights and protection guaranteed to the Nigerian people should never be a function of the party they are affiliated with. Under the current Jonathan government, we move toward fascism.
“Our party and our people will employ every lawful means to protect the lives and rights of every Nigerian in the lawful exercise of their political rights. Spurred by the fact that one of its own members was shot, the National Assembly must rise to their statutory responsibility in defence of the people’s rights and to exercise legislative oversight of an executive branch, through the police and a Presidency that has lost all sense of democratic balance and fair play. If the Assembly does not rise at this junction, things will only worsen and at some point they will be forced to confront the violent misbehavior of a government intent on perpetuating itself.
“Better that the assembly act now before so much harm is done that it becomes irreversible. Let the National Assembly be seen as coming to the rescue of those who elected them that they may prove heroic and patriotic at a time such as this.
“All Nigerians need to set themselves in vocal and sure opposition to the authoritarian evolution of the Jonathan administration.
“The International Community should take note of these developments and counsel this government against the belief that it can continually push the people against the wall and not expect the people to react. Nigeria is a democracy and those who would make it something else fight not only against the will of the people, they fight against the march of our history. Nigeria’s destiny is the rule of law, justice, fairness and freedom.
“No wonder, the Jonathan administration is so committed to marking the amalgamation’s centenary; they want to take the place of our former overlords. It will not happen. History may sometimes repeat itself but never does it allow us to make a fool of it.
“No matter the obstacles our would be emperors may erect, we will have our democracy. We will have our new Nigeria. We will have our rights and our freedom.”
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