By Our Reporter

The Kogi state All Progressive Congress Governorship Campaign Council in the just concluded gubernatorial elections in the state on Tuesday reacted to the allegation and misinformation going on in some social media platforms that the state is not safe due to the recent attacks witnessed in some part of the state.

According to a statement signed by the spokesperson /Director of Media and Publicity of the council Mr Kingsley Femi Fanwo these desperate moves are being made by the Social Democratic Party in Kogi State and some ethnic jingoists to paint the state unsafe by orchestrating supposed attacks on the Secretary of the Tribunal, Mr. Mike David, to cover up their already exposed plans of filing petition against the November 11 election outside the period allowed under the Electoral Act.

In his words, “Recall that some patriotic lawyers, from across the three senatorial districts of the state, had, in the early hours of Monday, alerted the public to the clandestine plan of the SDP and its Governorship candidate to file their petition through the backdoor and backdate same in order to circumvent the provisions of the Electoral Act.

” It is not hard for the discerning to see through the concocted lies and warped strategy of the SDP, as the purpoted attack on the Tribunal Secretary was said to have occurred on the day their dubious, anti-democratic plan was exposed. Why was he not attacked before the midnight of December 3, 2023, when the 21 days window closed? Why is the SDP the first to know about the purported attack? How did they know that he was working on their so called petition at the time he was allegedly attacked? Why has the SDP turned themselves to the advocate for the Secretary? The public cannot be misled. The people know exactly what is happening.

” We have called endlessly on the security agencies in the state to act on series of petitions before them against the criminalities being perpetrated by the SDP and its thugs all in the name of politics. They commit heinous crimes, kill innocent citizens, heighten tension in the state with hate speeches under a rejected ethnic agenda and turn around to play the victims through senseless propaganda. They even blatantly accuse the security agencies of committing crimes without any arrests being made.”

Mr Fanwo added that the inaction of the security agencies in the face of glaring atrocities being perpetrated by these desperate politicians and ethnic jingoist has further emboldened their thugs to attack the residence of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Kogi State, something that has never happened in the history of the state.

” And now, they and their collaborators in crime have conjured a “dead on arrival” script on the attack of the Tribunal Secretary.

” As we write, the lawyer, who led others to expose the SDP’s backdoor filing plans, in collaboration with some staff of the Tribunal, is being threatened by the SDP camp, even on public platforms, and this complaint is before the security agencies. When SDP threatens, they attack. That was how they threatened the Resident Electoral Commissioner and followed up their threats with a gruesome attack on his residence. Those who act within the precinct of the rule of law must be protected by the law.”

Mr. Fanwo concluded by saying the council awaits the reports of the security agencies on the true situation of things and once again calls on the President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to direct the Department of State Services and the Police to leave no stone unturned in apprehending the criminals terrorising the state and waging fruitless war against democracy.

He added that the Governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, CON, laid a solid foundation in terms of security. Criminals had no hiding place in the state for over seven years. “We cannot at this point sacrifice these widely acknowledged wins on the slab of politics.”