Few hours before the commencement of the December 12 local government elections, the Galadima 1 Ankpa Kingdom, Prince Yakub Yakub has called on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi East senatorial district to be wary of predictable antics of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Yakub made the call in a statement issued on Friday.
He called on PDP to be cautious as it approach the council polls.
“The council poll will not be free and fair as expected. The Kogi APC, with their usual desperation, will go to any length to make sure their designated candidates emerge victoriously at the poll and will hence insist on a violent poll if that is what will ensure their camouflage candidates victory.
“And as we all know, elections in Nigeria has over the years been characterised by violence and political tension and these two dangerous political menace won’t be an exception this time around.
“I am very clear, without doubt, that this election will not be different from the past violent elections we have witnessed in Kogi state. There has always been an acrimonious exchange between Kogi East PDP and the APC in the past which has resulted in many clashes accompanied with loss of lives and properties.
“The Kogi East PDP, as a matter of fact, should be wavy of the APC as the coming council election won’t be free and fair as we always hope for. Our electioneering sphere under this APC administration is nothing good to write home about, its characterised by electoral violence, destruction of ballot box and assassination of key opposition members.
“We have over time called upon the securities agency to come to the electorate’s aid by providing adequate security before and after the poll but reverse is always the case. In a sane world, deployment of security agencies to safeguard an election process is an aberration, but if the motives is good and the soldiers won’t be overzealous or be used to intimidate voters especially in the opposition stronghold which is the scenario we always witness in the Kogi political sphere then the measure could be one of the best at avoiding electoral fraud and violence.
“My sincere and honest advice to the Kogi East PDP ahead of the coming council election is to maintain a high level of precautions and play safe ahead of the coming election. We can’t afford a loss of life and properties this time around,” he said.
Yakub, a former House of Assembly aspirant, called on federal government to deploy the police and others security agencies to sensitive polling units in a manner that inspires confidence rather than intimidate the voters.
