By Emmanuel Abi Couson
The ruling All Progressive Congress Party (APC) in Kogi State has described the attack on the Tribunal Secretary Mr David Mike as the desperate moves by the Social Democratic Party in the State and ethnic jingoists to paint the state unsafe.
According to a statement by Kingsley Femi Fanwo
Spokesperson/Director of Media and Publicity of the APC, the attack on Tribunal’s offical is aimed to cover up their already exposed plans of filing petition against the November 11 election outside the period allowed under the Electoral Act.
“Recall that some patriotic lawyers, from across the three senatorial districts of the state, had, in the early hours of Monday, alerted the public to the clandestine plan of the SDP and its Governorship candidate to file their petition through the backdoor and backdate same in order to circumvent the provisions of the Electoral Act” He said.
According to him “It is not hard for the discerning to see through the concocted lies and warped strategy of the SDP, as the purpoted attack on the Tribunal Secretary was said to have occurred on the day their dubious, anti-democratic plan was exposed. Why was he not attacked before the midnight of December 3, 2023, when the 21 days window closed? Why is the SDP the first to know about the purported attack? How did they know that he was working on their so called petition at the time he was allegedly attacked? Why has the SDP turned themselves to the advocate for the Secretary? The public cannot be misled. The people know exactly what is happening”
The statement further reads “We have called endlessly on the security agencies in the state to act on series of petitions before them against the criminalities being perpetrated by the SDP and its thugs all in the name of politics. They commit heinous crimes, kill innocent citizens, heighten tension in the state with hate speeches under a rejected ethnic agenda and turn around to play the victims through senseless propaganda. They even blatantly accuse the security agencies of committing crimes without any arrests being made.
The inaction of the security agencies in the face of glaring atrocities being perpetrated by these desperate politicians and ethnic jingoists has further emboldened their thugs to attack the residence of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Kogi State, something that has never happened in the history of our dear state. And now, they and their collaborators in crime have conjured a “dead on arrival” script on the attack of the Tribunal Secretary.
As we write, the lawyer, who led others to expose the SDP’s backdoor filing plans, in collaboration with some staff of the Tribunal, is being threatened by the SDP camp, even on public platforms, and this complaint is before the security agencies. When SDP threatens, they attack. That was how they threatened the Resident Electoral Commissioner and followed up their threats with a gruesome attack on his residence. Those who act within the precinct of the rule of law must be protected by the law.
We await the reports of the security agencies on the true situation of things and once again call on our President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to direct the Department of State Services and the Police to leave no stone unturned in apprehending the criminals terrorising the state and waging fruitless war against democracy. The Governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, CON, laid a solid foundation in terms of security. Criminals had no hiding place in the state for over seven years. We cannot at this point sacrifice these widely acknowledged wins on the slab of politics”
