Jarigbe warns of C’River Police, APC collusion to blackmail him

Tijani Adeyemi

Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe ( PDP Cross River North), has challenged the Police in Cross River State to be professional in their conduct by not colluding in any way with members of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ), in their cheap blackmail against him.

Jarigbe as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the National Assembly election conducted penultimate Saturday defeated Governor Ben Ayade of the APC, said despite the crushing defeat suffered by APC in Cross River North, members of the party were still all out to tarnish his image and reputation.

Addressing the press in his office on Monday, the Senator called on the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali to put a stop to the show of shame going on in Cross River State where losers of the election are hell-bent on disparaging the winner.

He specifically called for the arrest of the Chairman of APC in the State, Alphonsus Eba and a thorough investigation of alleged nefarious activities of DCP operations, Mr Francis Idu and the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, CSP Irene Ugbo.

He said: ” The Independent National Electoral Commission declared my party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and my humble self, winner of the Cross River North Senatorial District Elections held on the 25th of February, 2023.

“We emerged victorious in that election with 76, 145 votes; while the candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, the sitting Governor of Cross River State, H. E. Sir Benedict Ayade, came second with 56, 595 votes. A clear difference of 19,550 votes. Our people made it abundantly clear that I was their choice.

“But surprisingly, one DCP Francis Idu, in the Cross River State Police Headquarters, who is under the patronage of the State Government and their lackeys, is abusing his office by indulging Alphonsus Eba in his psychotic odyssey of writing frivolous petitions against me and other respected indigenes of Cross River North.

“It is surely a wonder of the criminal world, for a man who was caught on camera disrupting the collation of results at an INEC collation centre to turn around and be writing a frivolous petition against us when he should be facing charges for electoral offences.

“The height of this shameless alliance with Alphonsus Eba and these shameless elements in the Police is a video my attention was drawn to, where some persons were paraded by the police in Cross River State allegedly for perpetrating election violence in the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections held on the 25th of February, 2023.

“During this parade, the Force PPRO, CSP Irene Ugbo, stated in a manner that borders on criminal unprofessionalism, that I have been invited to answer questions related to the arrest of those being paraded. This statement made by Irene Ugbo, the PPRO did not correlate with the written statement of the suspects.

“It is a sad day, indeed, when our security agents will ignore tons of evidence against a political party and their purported chairman who attempted to disrupt a peaceful election, but rather begin to act on their frivolous and baseless petitions to impugn the character of a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who was re-elected by his people, fair and square, to continue representing them at the Senate.

” I hereby call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately use his good Office to put a stop to this show of shame going on in Cross River State.

” I also call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately arrest Alphonsus Eba and charge him for Electoral offences as outlined in the Electoral Act; there is enough documentary evidence in form of pictures and videos to prosecute and convict him for electoral offences.

” I also call on the IGP, to Please immediately investigate the nefarious activities of the DCP, Operations, Mr Francis Idu and CSP Irene Ugbo, the PPRO, so they can face disciplinary actions”.

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