Director, Civil Liberty Organization (CLO), Steve Aluko, has called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and put and an end to the continued pattern of political violence in Kogi state.
Speaking with newsmen in Jos, the Plateau State capital, Aluko said the pre election violence that is already erupting in parts of the state is unbecoming, stressing the need to halt it before it gets out of hand.
He asked President Tinubu to “curb the excesses and political violence of the governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello ahead of the November 11 election.”
The Director said the world is watching the level of sanity that will be introduced into election management in this country, by Tinubu with keen interest.
He, therefore, called on the President to “take keen interest the the pre-election, election and post election activities of Governor Bello, who is well know for violence.”
Aluko said all monitoring conducted in Kogi State in the past were saddled with shameful activities, adding that with reports filtering in, the governor has again started pre-election intimidation of opposition candidate, an activity that would easily discredit President Tinubu and the entire APC.
Aluko pinpointed attacks on party supporters and campaign offices if the Social Democratic Offices (SDP) and billboards of other parties which included the People Democratic party.
Aluko noted that the violence and killings that happened in the state during the last 2019 election, especially on opposition parties and their candidates including the setting ablaze of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women leader in Ochadamu, should not repeat itself.
The Director said those incidences are still fresh in people’s minds, and so everything possible must be done to halt recurrence of such as there are reports of planned violence on the state during the course of the election.
He called on the President to “declare the State of Emergency on security in the state if the violence continues, adding that election is supposed to be free, fair and crisis free, before, during and after the election, but governor Bello is never known to allow a level play ground during elections in the state.”
He also said all political parties should be given equal rights and freedom to contest and campaign for elective office without fear of intimidation.
According to Aluko, if Tinubu does not intervene in the issue of the state and call the governor to order, it will appear that the President or All Progressive Congress (APC) at the national level has a hand in the violence going on in Kogi State.
“As the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces if such political violence or intimidation is allowed to continue, the president will be the first suspect,” Aluko stressed.
Also, he called on the security agents to do the needful so that at the end of the day the lives of the people would be secured and voters would not be intimidated before, during and after the election, expressing worry that if violence is already at this level prio to the election, what will happen during the election proper and results announcement and declaration of the winner.
He said security men to be deployed for election in Kogi State should be deployed from other states, and all of them should be properly identified, without masks, so as not to give room for thugs camouflaging as security men.
He said Yahaya Bello should also caution himself in terms of utterances and actions and allow himself do the right thing for posterity sake since this is his last term and cannot be the governor again, and history will judge him for whatever happens today. As such, he said, if the state is marred by violence in this election, even the incoming administration will inherit the effect and that will affect the provision of good governance.
In addition, Aluko said “Bello must realize that election in Nigeria has become a global issue that will attract the attention and reaction of the international community, and any offence committed in any state of the nation cannot be isolated. And so, he should be careful that at the end of his tenure, his name will not be dented as somebody who is anti democratic.”
He said as someone who has aspired for national position, including the presidency in the 2023 election, and still intend to aspire for national positions in the nearest future, the first way for Bello to prove his qualification for a national assignment and to get the people’s support for such position is to ensure a free, fair and violence free election in Kogi State now and to also ensure the security of every citizen in the state.
He called on all stakeholders in the election to also do all the could to support the state by ensuring the election is successful.
