Attack on Buhari , VP treasonable, says Falana

ACTIVIST-LAWYER Femi Falana (SAN) has said that the stoning of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo by supporters of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) during the campaign rally of the All Peoples Congress (APC) in Abeokuta was treasonable.

Reacting to the incident yesterday, Falana expressed regret that the Police have not arrested anybody in connection with the attack on the President, his vice and other leaders of the APC.

The senior advocate said that Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun cannot absolve himself of the blame as the chief security officer of the state.

He said the governor was preparing the stage for confusion when Amosun visited Abuja before last Monday’s campaign with the governorship candidate of the APM, Adekunle Akinlade.

He said the President erred by welcoming them and posing with them to be photographed.

“The governor ought to have been told long before the campaign that his activities were anti-party,” Falana said.

The lawyer also blamed the various security agencies in the state for the incident, noting that they did nothing to prevent or stop the attack on the President.

He said the security agencies, despite knowing that the rally was APC’s, allowed another party and its supporters to infiltrate the venue.

Falana contended that the ugly situation persisted because Police and other security agencies, who shied away from their responsibilities.

He recalled a 2007 situation, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo openly canvassed support for Dr. Olusegun Agagu against Dr. Segun Mimiko in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Falana recounted how supporters of former Oyo State governors, Rasheed Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala clashed and six people died with the police doing nothing to arrest and prosecute anybody over the incident.

Falana lamented the spate of disrespect and other acts against the person of the President by the opposition, describing it as an insult against the Exalted Office.

He recalled that during the presentation of the 2019 Budget, when the President was booed by some members of the National Assembly, the only thing he said was that ‘the world is watching’, noting, “here in Abeokuta, he kept quiet and allowed the situation to degenerated”.

He said when the President was attending an APC rally, Imo State and Governor Rochas Okorocha was campaigning for Action Alliance (AA) governorship candidate, nobody was cautioned.

Also, when in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, was booed at the APC rally in the presence of the President, nothing happened.

He described such developments as security breaches.