People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) on Friday accused the Kwara state police command of arresting its
Kwara South senatorial candidate, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim ahead of Saturday’s
presidential and National Assembly election.
Senator
Ibrahim was said to have been arrested on Thursday in connection with this week
Tuesday’s violence in Ojoku, Oyun local government area of the state.
Suspected
thugs loyal to Senator Ibrahim on Tuesday this week allegedly attacked the
campaign train of the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara
south senatorial district in Ojoku, Lola Ashiru.
In the
process two APC members were shot dead, eight injured and about 20 vehicles
belonging to Ashiru, an architect, were allegedly vandalised.
Ojoku, is
the country home of Dr Ibrahim, a serving Senator.
PDP chair
in the state Kola Shittu, an engineer, said that six of PDP members sustained
injuries from gunshots.
Shittu
added that the senator had since denied any involvement in the mayhem.
The Conference of
Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) in the also Friday condemned the arrest of
Senator Ibrahim describing it as unlawful.
CNPP said
Ibrahim’s arrest and detention by the police since Thursday confirmed its
earlier position that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal
Government in connivance with security agencies planned a clampdown on
opposition leaders in the state.
Addressing
reporters in Ilorin, the state capital the chairman of the CNPP Alhaji Adebayo
Lawal, said that the federal lawmakers arrest was part of plot to scuttle the
electoral process in Kwara state and subvert the will of the people.
He urged
the international community to intervene and not only ensure the release of
Senator Ibrahim, but guide against unlawful arrest of opposition figures in the
state.
Adebayo
added: “Barely 24 hours to the Saturday’s presidential and national assembly
elections, officers of the Nigerian Police Force, who were visibly acting on
the orders of the presidency, forcefully arrested and detained Senator Rafiu
Ibrahim, the senator representing Kwara South senatorial district, and the
candidate of the PDP for the election. Up till this moment, Senator Rafiu, who
is a major contender for Kwara South senatorial district election like our
other candidates, is yet to be released.
“Similarly,
in the past few days, more than 20 members of different opposition parties in
the State have been indiscriminately arrested by security agencies and taken to
unknown destinations up to the time of making this release. This is a repeat of
what happened during last year’s bye-election in Irepodun/Oke-Ero/Isin/Ekiti
Federal Constituency, where top members of the PDP and opposition Parties were
unlawfully arrested on the eve of the election.
“We have received
information that the high hierarchy of the Police has ordered that Senator
Rafiu Ibrahim must not be released, which is a deliberate ploy to keep him out
of circulation before and during the elections. This is unacceptable, unlawful,
and undemocratic and a primitive show of power by a party that is well-known
for abuse of power, federal institutions and flouting of court orders with
impunity. The desperation of the APC to win elections at all costs portends
great danger for our nascent democracy.
“It is
unfortunate that a serving lawmaker who is loved by his people for his sterling
performance in the Senate can be subjected to this kind of inhumane treatment
on the unsubstantiated accusation from the APC. If the peace-loving Senator
Rafiu Ibrahim is clamped upon in this manner, our other Candidates are also
prone to such flagrant abuse of power. There is no feasible evidence to show
that the detained Senator had any connection with the Tuesday’s political
attack in Ojoku, which happens to be his hometown. We are not saying the
Security Agents should not do their jobs, but to choose the eve of the general
elections to detain a strong contender is portraying the Security Agencies as being
partisan to the clear advantage of the Candidate of the APC. To assume that the
lawmaker could have engineered violence against his own town and people is in
the least untenable. Attempts to link him to the fracas are political and
unfortunate.
“Few weeks
ago, when we raised the alarm over the planned crackdown on members of
opposition parties in Kwara by the APC-led FG, some cohorts of the APC
dismissed it as a false alarm. But we have been vindicated now as we all are
now witnesses to what is going on in the State right now. We condemn the use of
state security by the APC to harass and intimidate innocent opposition members
all in the name of politics and desperate bid to scheme out other candidates in
favour of the Candidates of the APC. This is a shameful display of state power.
“We
invite members of the fourth estate of the realm, local and international
observers, civil society groups, well-meaning Nigerians and all lovers of
democracy to rise in condemnation of this unlawful detention of Senator Rafiu
Ibrahim and other opposition members and also demand for their immediate
release. We all have a duty to protect democracy and save the sanctity of our
electoral process.
“We
equally want to place on record that we are seriously concerned about the obvious
partisanship of the security operatives now in Kwara for the elections. It is
highly unfortunate that security men who are meant to be non-partisan as had
been in the past here have now decided to take sides against opposition parties
and do the bidding of the party in power. This is bad for our democracy. That
is why we are disappointed are of the conviction that the elections in Kwara
will not be free, fair and credible.”
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