Linus Oota, Lafia
The Nasarawa State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has raised alarm over alleged sinister plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC ) in the state to arrest and detain its members in Obi Local Government Area of the state.
The PDP said the grand plot to discredit and stifle the opposition was in connection with the recent bulling of Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura at IDP camp in the council .
Chairman of the party in the state, Hon. Francis Orogu, told journalists, on Monday, during a press conference in his office, in Lafia, that the state government of conniving with security agencies to implicate some PDP youth members into the case.
He said the APC was afraid of the growing popularity of the PDP in the state, hence the plot to arrest and detain it’s members.
He said that the ruling APC government in the state had decided to employ every undemocratic means to harass, intimidate and molest members of the PDP in the state ahead of the general elections.
He said, “Gentlemen of the press, we have invited you here today to alert you and members of the public all over the State and Nigeria of a very dangerous design by the APC interest, which is inimical to the survival of our hard earned democracy and the stability of our nation’s democracy.
“While the party condemned in strong terms any attempt to undermine the constituted authorities especially the governor of the state, the party equally condemned any move by the government to take advantage of a situation of this nature that took place in the IDP camp by the highly provoked indigene of Obi local government who were IDP members as a result of this ungodly attack, and begin to initiate the arrest of some selected Youths perceived to be PDP supporters in uncalled for,” he said.
The party chairman also drew the attention of the public to an alleged plot by the APC administration in the state to create room for confrontational rivalry within the two major political parties in the state (PDP and APC).
“This they intend to achieve by deliberately renting a property adjacent PDP headquarters in Lafia, sharing the same fence with the PDP permanent secretariat which was build, owned and occupied by the party for about 17 years ago before the said property came to be
“This is like having deliberately plan to build a mosque and a church fencing them together for worshipers to worship in the same premises in a country like ours, the consequences of such act do not need a soothsayer
“In a volatile period and environment we live in today a situation whereby even internal matter within a party can degenerate to loss of life and destruction of properties in some cases it is therefore, not advisable that major rivalry parties to start anything of this nature especially now that we are going into campaign period because any slide provocation act may degenerate into serious consequence,” he said.
Orogu further said that the intention of the APC is to create room for arrest and subsequent persecution of PDP members when such crisis arise, noting that he has formerly communicated this position to the state government, the police and other security agencies in the state for proper investigation and action.
Efforts by our correspondent to reach the state commissioner for Information Barr Yusuf Shehu-Usman and the State Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Alhaji Aliyu Bello for comments over this wealthy allegations prove abortive, as none of them pick their phone numbers.
