By Amuda Dan Sulaiman Fab.
Kogi State chapter of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state wants to clamp down on prominent NNPP members over trumped up charges.
In a statement issued in Lokoja on Thursday, NNPN Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Musa Audu Dankano, said the planned arrests were aimed at weakening the campaign strategies of the party in the state.
He commended paramilitary agencies in the state for professionalism, adding that he believes none would allow itself to be used as an agent of repression under a democratic government.
Dankano also cautioned the APC government to refrain from acts that could threaten the fragile security situation within and outside the state.
The statement reads: “Kogi NNPP wishes to alert the general public that it has secured intelligence information that the state’s APC regime is planning to clamp down on notable opposition party figures in Kogi state within a few hours to the election.
“The proposed diabolical plan is to come up with trumped up charges and insist that security agencies arrest and charge such opposition party members to court.
“We, at the NNPP, are confident that the current set of security agencies’ leadership in Kogi would not react to such blatant attempt by the ruling party regime to gag the opposition. They have, in the recent past, shown their professional abilities in solving crime and nipping other criminal activities in the bud. They have also discharged their duties without fear or favour.
“We, hereby, call on well meaning Kogites to impress upon the APC party regime not to heat up the polity with this ill-advised decision to clamp down on opposition party figures. The APC regime should be reminded of the fragile security situation in the country, as of today. Clamping down on opposition party members on trumped up charges could lead to breakdown of law and order in the state.”
