The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State on Thursday raised the alarm over hundreds of tinted and unregistered vehicles on the streets of Lokoja, the state capital.
The party said the vehicles, which include cars, buses, SUVs and pickup trucks have flooded Lokoja and several other towns in Kogi State in the last few days as the state prepares for the governorship election.
The spokesman, head information and strategy to PDP governorship candidate, Faruk Adejoh-Audu, in a statement alleged that the vehicles were purchased by the state government and distributed to supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party said no fewer than 450 cars were reportedly distributed last week, while over 500 such cars were in circulation before, during and after the last general elections.
Adejoh-Audu said, “These cars were used by thugs and gunmen to storm polling units and collation during the Presidential/National Assembly and House of Assembly Elections in Kogi State.
“Interestingly in all the 10 cases where PDP members were killed in the last elections, the killers were reported to have arrived and escaped in tinted cars identical to the ones shared by the governor now APC candidate and his Chief of Staff who is now the running mate to the governor.
ALSO READ: Lawyer petitions Ekiti speaker, seeks investigation into killing of FUOYE students
“We are shocked that these cars obviously procured to be used in the perpetration of electoral felonies are prowling around freely in Lokoja with their plate numbers either covered, left blank or with the inscription of GYB 4+4 or NEXT LEVEL yet no security agency in Kogi State neither the police nor the Department of State Security (DSS) considers the development a security breach.
“We are challenging the Kogi State Commissioner of Police and the State Director DSS to explain to the world why these vehicles and their drivers and occupant enjoy unbridled immunity in a state where police are notorious for harassing, intimidating and extorting motorists with genuine vehicle identification on all the highways”.
The party added that it had repeatedly accused the security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kogi State have been induced because of the election.
The statement read, “We recall that the Lokoja International Stadium was attacked by gunmen on September 3, during the PDP governorship primaries while the commissioner of police was seated in the venue. The venue itself is just about 500 meters walk to the State DSS headquarters.
“Yet these gunmen freely attacked the stadium causing bedlam and stampede with several persons sustaining serious injuries. Until today neither the police commissioner nor the Director of DSS is known to have commenced an investigation into this dastardly act designed solely to ensure the PDP primaries produced no candidate before the INEC deadline for primaries which was less than 24 hours at the time of the attack”.
ALSO READ: APC can’t score up to 20% of votes in Kogi, Bayelsa states ― PDP
Before the last general election, we equally cried out when hooded hoodlums emerged from Lugard House Lokoja to attack stakeholders meeting on the eve of the cancelled presidential election date. Videos of these attack were sent to the DSS and police in Lokoja and Abuja, yet nothing whatsoever was done, rather these hooded men were used freely to attack people during the election.
Nigerians have now come to the conclusion that the APC Government has no scruple in abusing the state institutions of violence to manipulate election no matter who is watching and the outcry from the people being robbed of their franchise like it was done in Osun and Kano States.
This is clearly the plan unfolding in Kogi State with perhaps over a thousand tinted cars given to thugs prowling the streets menacingly in all nooks and crannies of State awaiting November 16 when they will maim and kill to ensure unpopular Mr Bello is forcefully returned to again oppress the people.
Once again we call out the police and DSS in Kogi State to carry out their constitutional duties in preventing crimes and reining in criminals. So far they have observed their statutory roles in the breach of the Constitution to the advantage of an unpopular oppressive and repressive despot governing Kogi State.
However reacting to the allegation, the director-general, media and publicity to the governor, Kingsley Fanwo, said the allegations were coming from a confused party.
He said, “The PDP is confused completely at the moment and it is understandable, they had a bloody primary and the centre is disintegrated.
“They know they stand no chance on November 16 and they need to start looking for excuses from now. They are not reaching out and the state doesn’t even know they have a candidate.
“Their Plan A was to foment trouble. The plan has collapsed. They imported Niger Delta thugs who couldn’t operate in our well-woven security architecture.
“The only plan left is blackmail and falsehood. We didn’t bring in vehicles. We don’t need violence. Their leaders are defecting to our party and we are confident of winning convincingly. We shall wait for their next falsehood as this one has collapsed like packs of cards.”
and then