…We have no time for a political Lilliputian with questionable character – Commissioner.
By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja.
SOCIAL Democratic Party (SDP) has alleged fresh plot by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi in conspiracy with some security chiefs in the State to abduct its Governorship Candidate, Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka to Lokoja and frame him with trump-up charges.
In a press statement signed and issued by Faruk Adejoh-Audu, Director, Communications for the Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka Campaign Organization, on Tuesday, the party alleged that the aim was to clamp the candidate into detention and possibly assasinate him.
Adejoh-Audu said details of the plan which began manifesting on Tuesday included hastily arraigning Alhaji Ajaka before a Lokoja Court to legally seal the plot to incarcerate him indefinitely.
He further alleged that some gunmen in mufti appeared at an address on Khartoum Street in Wuse, Abuja at about 12:30pm on Tuesday claiming they were detailed by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Hakeem Adeshina Yusuf to arrest Alhaji Ajaka.
The men, he said, had claimed Ajaka was to be arrested for attempted assassination, gun possession and terrorism as a result of the same attack carried our by Mr Bello and his gun men.
Among sundry allegations, the Director, Communications said, “Already, Mr Bello has put some of his friendly media editors and social media influencers on cue to disparage the SDP Candidate through stories and commentaries that will potray the candidate as a violent man.
“These elaborate plot is an obvious manifestion to stop the escalating popularity of the SDP Candidate in the November 11, Governorship Elections.
“Mr Bello is a Governor whose administration has gained notoriety for violence, framing up opponents and compromising the institutions of the polity to gain advantage in elections.
“Once again we are calling on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call this outlaw of a governor to order since we cannot press charges against him due to his executive immunity.
“Using the state institutions of compliance to suppress opponents in an election with the force of arms is akin to coup d’etat and we hereby task the Federal Government of Nigeria under president Tinubu to forestall such an unconstitutional desperation even from governor produced by his party”, he said.
In a swift reaction to the allegations, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Kingsley Femi Fanwo said Governor Yahaya Bello had no time for Ajaka whom he described as “a political Lilliputian with questionable character.”
He said that it was important to tell Nigerians and the world that Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, “the said Governorship candidate of the SDP, is on a blisteringly shameful agenda of whipping sentiments…
“Spreading falsehood with reckless abandon so as to put on himself, a garment of importance and create unnecessary air around himself as a contender that he is not.
“Kogites and Nigerians know Muritala Yakubu Ajaka and they know that his intention is to create ethnic division and blow his own ego. We know the contenders and the pretenders and he is not a political threat as far as Kogi State is concerned.
“The Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency Alh. Yahaya Bello, CON, is the Governor of all the people of Kogi State and he owes them a duty of care and security. He swore to protect them and protect them he shall.
“The State Government has no clandestine plan to frame up anyone, not to talk about political Lilliputians with questionable character.
“As a Government, we will not condone reckless statements as we urge the security agencies to arrest the current trend by acting decisively against inflammatory statements.
“A lack of action has emboldened some political opportunists to think they can spread lies, incite the people, play politics of ethnic profiling and still get away with them”, Fanwo said.