The Kogi State Government is said by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to have planned the attack on their campaign office in Lokoja, which resulted in the destruction of billboards and windows.
Dr. Arome Okeme, the SDP’s state secretary, made the charge on Monday in a news release.
In an unprovoked attack on the Social Democratic Party/Muri/Abene campaign office in Kogi State, Okeme claimed that on July 9 at around 9 am, hoodlums, thugs, and arsonists working for the state government destroyed and burned party flags, campaign banners, and sacrilegiously, the Nigerian national flags.
The Social Democratic Party has suffered tremendous losses at the hands of the ruling party led by Governor Yahaya Bello over the years, which has always posed the biggest threat to his continued tenure as governor or de facto, the SDP Secretary said as he recalled some of the tragic events that have befallen SDP supporters in Kogi State. Maybe going back in time will make our memories a little hazy.
“During the 2018 senatorial elections, the APC, led by Yahaya Bello, used rogue security agents and thugs to physically assault Barr. Natasha Akpoti, the party’s candidate for the Kogi central senatorial elections at the time.
“Under the supervision of this government, two of the candidate’s followers were shot and died, her family home in Okehi was set on fire, and numerous supporters were injured.
“In 2019, the same government, led by the same governor, dealt the party another gruesome blow when it attacked and set fire to its secretariat, which is located at Paparanda Square directly across from the local government secretariat. This resulted in the destruction of property valued at millions of naira.
“Under his watch, our then-gubernatorial candidate, Barr Natasha Akpoti, was assaulted and knocked to the ground during a meeting held by the then-commissioner of police in full front of the public, and nothing has been done about it to this day. It traumatized our candidate and disenfranchised our supporters.
The governor made sure that none of our candidate’s signs, banners, or other campaign materials flew in Kogi State since they were all pulled down and burned. Party supporters were physically beaten, denied voting rights, and chased out of polling places.
“The governor presided over one of the worst elections ever held in Kogi State in the 2019 general election, during which many lives were lost. From the air, helicopters fired on the quiet voters. In fact, if one was unfamiliar with the state, they may think it was a theater of battle.
The governor recently referred to himself as a lion while disparaging our candidate by calling him an antelope. He eventually admitted to being present on the day shots were fired at our candidate’s bulletproof automobile, where he was seated in the passenger seat, and thus admitted to almost assassinating our candidate for the November gubernatorial election.
Okeme requested the Inspector-General of Police to summon the state’s chief of police to order and order him to find the perpetrators of this regrettable barbarous incident right away.
He asserts that if security agencies are unsuccessful in apprehending those responsible for this atrocity, they may turn to self-help.
It is true that the governor no longer enjoys the same level of favor and support from Asorock as he did from the previous administration, and this has caused him concern because it means that the “federal might” he counted on might not be there for him to deploy after all.
The Muri/Abene campaign will increase its efforts to free the good people of Kogi state from the chains of their enemies, who are regrettably their current leaders, he continued. “We also call on the general public not to be cowed or intimidated by these actions as this is just a minor setback,” he said.
The Kogi State Government, however, has denied any involvement in the attack on the SDP headquarters in Lokoja.
The current administration will not tolerate any conduct that would undercut Nigeria’s democratic process, the government declared in a statement issued through the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo.
Fanwo issued a warning to hoodlums and criminals to stay away from the Kogi governorship election because the state government will treat them like criminals.
He continued, “Parties should also refrain from making ignorant, spiteful, and inflammatory statements that are capable of upsetting the state’s tranquility.
