3 Days To Assembly Polls: Text Message War Rages In Lagos

Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola.

Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola.

It’s no more the battle of posters. No more the battle of jingles on radio. It’s now the battle of the GSM. With barely 72 hours to the National Assembly election, politicians in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, have embarked on a last ditch effort to woo voters through electronic text messages.

The unsolicited text messages have flooded phones used by subscribers of major telecom service providers such as Globacom, MTN, Airtel and Etisalat.

One of such messages sent by the Labour Party, LP, reads: “6.1 million Lagosians will vote to end Tinubu’s oppression. Vote Labour.” One of the candidates of Labour Party in Lagos State is Dapo Durosimi-Etti. He is gunning for the Lagos Central Senatorial District, comprising Apapa, Eti Osa, Victoria Island, Lagos Mainland and Surulere.

Incidentally, that is the senatorial district Oluremi Tinubu is also vying for as candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

The ACN has countered the Labour Party text message with a message detailing some of Remi Tinubu’s public-spirited programme. The message says: “Why D Lies? Oluremi Tinubu, OON, a committed educationist, from Spelling Bee to One-Day Gov Program. Raising Future Leaders – So Why the Lies. Vote Oluremi 4 Senate 2011.” The message was sent through Glo.

Another message by Remi Tinubu’s campaigners also sent through Glo reads: “What’s the Fuss about Oluremi Tinubu? Is Hillary Clinton not the face of America today? Can’t Oluremi give effective representation? You be the judge.”

Joining the political campaign fray is the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola. Fashola’s message reads: “BRF Gov. I urge Lagosians to vote ACN at ALL levels. Any contrary msg (message) is from anti-Lagos elements. Vote wisely. Vote ACN! BRF.”

Gov. Raji Fashola

Yesterday, Lagosians were flooded with a message contriving a conflict between Fashola and his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The message, described as Satanic by ACN spokesman, Joe Ugbokwe, appeared to have emanated from the Labour Party, as the sponsors “Lagos Voters” are the same group rallying votes for the Labour Senatorial Candidate, Dapo Durosinmi Etti.

According to the message: “Fashola says No to Tinubu’s juju oath swearing. Let us all pray for Fashola’s protection from the Evil Tinubu godfather.”

Reacting to what has been described as a grossly libelous statement, the ACN, through its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe described the text as the handiwork of saboteurs, saying he also received the text yesterday morning and asked the public to disregard it.

He described it as diabolical.

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“Please in the name of God, ignore this Satanic verse that is coming from our enemies, traitors, thieves, vote robbers, rabble rousers, and charlatans.

“They are desperate, dangerous, dubious and deadly. How they wished that Governor Fashola and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will start a fight so that they can grab Lagos on a platter of gold. Lazy fools. They cannot even be creative for a moment.

According to him, “bereft of ideas, values, common sense, capacity, capability, foresight, initiatives, these shameless people continue to ridicule themselves in the eyes of 20 million wise Lagosians.

“Please tell these busybodies that Governor Fashola and Tinubu can never fight for anything in Lagos because they know that no one destroys a house he has built.

“The so-called juju oath taking is a figment of the imagination of people who cannot figure things out, people who cannot get it and people who are lying prostrate on the ground with no sign of life in their empty bodies in the age of progress.”

“We know where these lies are coming from and they cannot be far from PDP. This party is going out of power in Nigeria and we want you all to believe us. For Nigeria to move forward, this party needs to be destroyed and liquidated,” he added.

After a fence-mending meeting with party stalwarts yesterday at the Mainland Hotel in Ebute Meta, Governor Fashola also commented on the text message.“You just saw our meeting; there is no rift in our party; those are the agents of destabilisation and I will ignore it and I will want to urge everyone to be vigilant. This is the destabilisation and the trait and character of PDP posing as Labour Party and all sorts of things trying to destabilise all other parties.

“PDP has not told us what it will do on security, housing, electricity. People must be vigilant; they must wake up and listen to what we are saying in Action Congress and see our track records in the state that we have control and ignore all this messages of deception.”

As the text message war rages in Lagos, subscribers who have been inundated with the messages have been discussing among themselves the contents of such messages which are expected to sway them on the day of election.

—Ada Owojela & Kazeem Ugbodaga

 

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