From: Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Following mob action on some members of split group of the All Progressive Congress on Sunday in Kaduna by thugs, the State chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Hassan Hyet has said that no opposition party is safe in the state.
Hyet stated this, on Tuesday, when he paid a solidarity visit on the leadership of Kaduna State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), whose some of her members were injured in the crisis.
The PDP chairman, a former Minister of Aviation said people should always be allowed to express grievances under democracy without another group raising daggers to attack an opponent.
He said, “Nigeria is having too much problems today, and in our State in particular, if within the ruling party, we are witnessing this situation, then we that are in opposition parties, we will start becoming jittery.
“What will be our fate when the time for local government election comes.
“It is unfortunate that instead of people to organise themselves and counter by presenting their own side, they rather used thier fists to cause destruction and inflict injuries on some of your members.
“Knowing the role of the press. we felt that we should visit for the good of generality of the people.
“The truth is that people must be allowed to express their grievances, express their pains and their ideas.
“We came to sympathise with you because as PDP family we felt we should be our brother’s keeper, hence we are here on behalf of PDP family across the country.
“We pray this type of ugly episode does not happen again.
We want to use this opportunity not only to call on politicians, but on Nigerians to learn the act of tolerance and accommodation.
We don’t need to carry cutlasses and chase away other persons because we have disagreed with their opinion, we should rather dialogue and exchange ideas to move the society forward.
“We say this clear and loud that the purported directive from above by security agencies is a directive of the federal government authority, not directive of any authority.
The constitution of the country supersede any authority in the country, therefore security agencies should handle their work without fear or favour, as they normally say.
“We want to call on the people to see the last ugly episode as a?forgone issue. But the sad episode should not deter you from doing your work as journalists”.