The Sokoto State chapters of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have continued to trade blames on the outcome of Saturday’s Governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
The State PDP chairman, Bello Goronyo, in a press briefing on Wednesday in Sokoto alleged that dozens of PDP supporters were detained by the Police after the elections.
He said PDP as a law abiding party with longest history of governance in Nigeria commended its teeming supporters in the state for their sustained commitment and resilience.
Goronyo said: “The party is not unmindful of the ordeal that its teeming members are being subjected to deliberately by the leadership of the APC.
“This situation was plotted deliberately by the appointment of the Minister of Police Affairs as the Director-General of the APC Campaign Council in the state.
“We have witnessed unprecedented misuse of security to arrest, harass and intimidate our members towards undermining their freedom to exercise their franchise of voting for their preferred party.”
He alleged that three citizens were killed in Shagari Local Government Area by close associates of an APC leader during the March 18 elections.
According to him, a son of a PDP supporter, one late Armiya’u Mada was murdered in Tudun Wada area in Sokoto metropolis, while a business woman in Katami village was reportedly robbed of over 300 of grains.
“The list of those who suffered harassment, intimidation and loss of property in different parts of the state is disturbingly alarming.
“Instead of arresting and arraigning the perpetrators to face justice security is busy focusing attention on PDP supporters based on prompting by the APC leadership in the state.
“We are therefore using this medium to assure all PDP supporters and law abiding citizens in the state that these callous acts are being followed to ensure justice to the victims,” Goronyo added.
He said several complaints were made to security agencies when the breaches occurred and there was no response.
The chairman reiterated that the party was studying the circumstances, adding, “we will soon publicise the action to be taken to address the anomaly to ensure that the right of the voters is restored.”
Reacting, the State APC Chairman, Sadiq Achida, described the allegations as a “mere shouting usually made when a party or politician lose election.”
Achida said that the various political parties’ executives had signed a peace accord and enjoined party supporters to stay away from violent acts, stressing that those that allegedly perpetrated the evil acts were not APC supporters.
He urged the law enforcement agents to investigate the matters and also include the scenario where three persons were allegedly killed in front of Government House, Sokoto.
On the alleged Minister of Police Affairs’ misuse of power, Achida said the PDP Chairman misconstrued his position for having sided accusations.
“This is because the Minister was present during the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections in the same capacity,”he said.
Achida said during the elections, PDP had higher votes without having accused the same Minister for intimidating voters or misuse of power as well.
The party chairman noted that Gov. Aminu Tambuwal had history of manipulating political scenarios using different mediums, stressing that the recent elections lost by his party were part of the outcomes of political deceits.
Achida commiserated with irrigation farmers over the loss experienced due to the release of water from Sokoto Rima River and urged the authorities to compensate the victims.
