The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the violent attack on its leaders, members, lawyers and witnesses allegedly by the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the premises of the Kogi state governorship election petition tribunal in Abuja.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP described the attack “which was openly coordinated by a known APC leader as barbaric and part of the desperate plot by the APC to eliminate some of our leaders, trigger confusion, disrupt and manipulate the judicial process, instill fear in the tribunal judges in a bid to subvert the course of justice, knowing that there is no way its manipulations at the November 16, 2019 Kogi state governorship election can stand before the law.”
“It was indeed a terrific sight when scores of APC hoodlums led by APC Kogi state Chairman, Mr. Abdullahi Bello, attacked PDP leaders and witnesses with machetes and clubs, for which some of our members and witnesses are now receiving treatments in various hospitals,” he said.
Ologbondiyan said the APC’s state Chairman’s open boast that “we will kill you and nothing will happen” only confirms that the attack was a carefully planned assault unleashed on PDP and the tribunal with the backing of the APC and its government.
The party, however, insisted that no amount of violence, intimidation or blackmail can cow it into abandoning its avowed determination to retrieve the mandate freely given to its candidate by the people of Kogi state in the November 2019 governorship election.
The PDP also called on the judges of the tribunal not to be deterred by the antics of the APC but stand firm on the side of the law and the mandate of the people of Kogi state.
The party however cautioned the APC to desist from such attack as the people of Kogi state might not have any other option than to use every means of self defense allowed and available in a democracy, in the face of any such attack in the future.
The party also urged the Inspector General of Police to immediately pull in the APC Kogi state Chairman for questioning and eventual prosecution over the violent attack at the tribunal. The police should also bar him from the sittings of the tribunal due to his unruly conduct.
The PDP called on Nigerians and the Police to hold the Kogi state APC Chairman responsible should any harm befall any of our leaders, given his boasts that “we will kill you and nothing will happen”.
“The APC Kogi Chairman, in that statement has shown himself to be a very serious security threat, who must not be allowed to have his way.”
