Sokoto PDP Accuses Police Affairs Minister of Intimidating Party’s Supporters During Guber Election  

*Says 4 persons were killed

By Onuminya Innocent In Sokoto

The People Democratic party (PDP) in Sokoto State has accused the Minister of Police Affairs Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi of using security at his disposal to intimidate the party’s supporters at the just concluded governorship and house assembly elections in the state.

Briefing newsmen at the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat , Sokoto on Tuesday,  the chairman of the party in the state Alhaji Aliyu Bello Goronyo said thousands of their supporters were arrested during the election.

He maintained that the  security apparatus were used to intimidate their supporters during the election which led to disfranchising them.

He further explained that the Peoples Democratic Party as a law abiding party with longest history of governance in Nigeria is using this medium to commend its teaming supporters in Sokoto state for their sustained commitment and resilience which manifested in their trooping out to vote for the party in the just concluded governorship and state assembly elections

He disclosed that available data confirmed that the turnout for this last election was almost 900,000 which contrasted with the Presidential and National Assembly Elections which had a turnout of about 600,000 voters. 

“The party is mindful of the ordeal that its teaming 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,” he stated.

“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 added.

He said the party was collating and studying reports from all the local government areas in the state on the March 18 Governorship and State Assembly Election, stressing they are

already in possession of disturbing violation of the Electoral Act and appropriate measures will be taken to address the anomaly to ensure that the right of the voters ar3 be protected.

He said since the announcement of the result of the election which purportedly gave legitimacy to unprecedented electoral fraud in the state, the much anticipated political violence which characterized the APC antecedent in the state has manifested in alarming proportion across all the Local Government Areas in the state .

“We are indeed constrained to put on record the dastardly act of killings

that occurred in some part of the state,” the chairman said, adding that three innocent citizens were killed in Shagari allegedly by those close to the leader of APC on the state. 

He also stated that the son of PDP supporter Late Armiya’u Mada in Tudun Wada area in Sokoto was gruesomely murdered.

 “A business woman in Katami was purportedly robbed of over three hundred bags of grains. The list of those who suffer harassment, intimidation and loss of property in different parts of the state are disturbingly alarming,” he added.

He said, instead of arresting and arraigning the perpetrators to face justice , security agencies were busy focusing attention on PDP supporters based on prompting by the APC leadership in the state. 

He enjoined the party’s teeming supporters to remain calm as the party will soon make their position known to the general public.