The Kogi State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, to order a full scale investigation into the desecration of Kogi State House of Assembly and physical attacks on a PDP Lawmaker, Hon Friday Sani, by thugs allegedly sponsored by the state government.
The PDP in a statement signed by Dickson Achadu, Director Research and Documentation, lamented the level at which the state governor deployed government and security apparatus to molest the innocent lawmaker.
The party said it was sad that the thugs operated freely for three hours under the watchful eyes of the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, State Security Adviser, Jerry Omodara, the Aide de camp to the State Governor and five Council Administrators, who supervised the beaten to coma of the lawmaker.
The statement described as crude and uncivilized the governor’s approach to a matter of law in which Hon Friday, having been granted a consequential order by a court of competent jurisdiction quashing his suspension from the House, would be deprived from sitting by the Governor and his agents using brute force and uncivilized means, while the Police looked the other way.
The statement said while it is praying for the stability and survival of the lawmaker, who after been assaulted was later dumped in a cassava farm hours after, lamented the several lies of the government collaborating with the Police, in an attempt to exonerate itself.
Achadu’s statement said the governor’s action at desecrating the hallowed chamber of the state Assembly, by the use of thugs to harass lawmakers while the police serve as onlookers, reminds one of the dark age when the military junta held sway in the country.
The PDP described Gov. Bello as a maximum ruler in a democracy, a system that is anchored on the rule of law. They called on the Inspector General of Police to urgently make a replacement for the state Commissioner of Police as every indication points to the fact that he has lost the confidence of the people, for he now take orders directly from the governor, seen by many as his paymaster.
“While as a party we demand a full investigation into the action of the sponsored thugs who were ferried to the Assembly Complex in vehicles belonging to the state government and its officials, we make bold to let the whole world know that the primary responsibility of government, in protecting the lives of its citizens, has been lost in Kogi State, as thugs and wanted criminals, working for the government, and protected by the Police, have taken the center stage in our state’s life.
“As a party we demand that salaries and Pension of workers and retires running into seventeen months be paid.
We equally frown at the wastage of state resources in empowering thugs, who now are saddled with protection of lives of the people.
“We demand also that the lives of the other PDP lawmakers and members in the House, constantly under threat, be brought to the attention of the public, and the Inspector General of Police”, the statement reads.
