The Peoples Democratic Party in Kaduna State has accused the All Progressives Congress of ordering operatives of the Department of State Service to arrest chieftains of the party.
A chieftain of the party, who preferred to be anonymous for fear of harrasment, noted that the security agencies’ plan was to arrest the PDP fieldmen and detain them until after the governorship election.
The party also raised the alarm that over 100 of its chieftains across the 255 wards in the state had been listed for possible arrest by security agencies in the state.
“Our attention has been drawn to a list of our field men drawn up by the government to be arrested and detained until after the elections,” the chieftain said.
The state PDP Secretary, Alhaji Wusono Ibrahim, who condemned the arrest and detention of some party stalwarts in the DSS facility in the state, called for their immediate release.
Ibrahim stated this in a statement titled, ‘The arrest of our leaders and members by the security agents few days to the governorship election,’ released in Kaduna on Thursday.
The statement read, “We wish to bring to the attention of the country and the world to the spate of arrests against our members by the security agencies in Kaduna State.
“The deputy director of media, PDP campaign Committee, Hon Saidu Adamu, has been arrested yesterday at his residence and is currently in detention at the DSS facility in Kaduna State,” he said.
“We also wish to alert you that two of our ward executives from Kabala, Kaduna North, namely El Abbass Mohammed and Talib Mohammed Lawal have also been arrested. They are also held in detention.
“We are a law-abiding party that believes in peaceful elections. We urge the Governor of Kaduna state Nasir El-Rufai, the APC and the security agencies to respect and honour the peace accord that was signed. We condemn the intimidation and harassment of our members. We demand their immediate release now.”
However, in his response, the Kaduna state Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Wusono Salisu, distanced the APC from the alleged arrest of the PDP chieftains.
“We are not behind the PDP member’s arrest. What I know is nobody is above the law and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If I commit an offence, security agencies will come after me,” Salisu said.
