The Peoples Democratic Party says the Department of State Services has arrested some of its chieftains ahead of the rescheduled governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.
According to the party, those allegedly penciled down for arrest by the DSS include a former Commissioner for Information and the Deputy Director of Media, Kano State PDP Campaign Committee, Saidu Adamu; as well as two ward executives of the party from Kabala, Kaduna North, namely: El Abbass Mohammed and Talib Lawal.
The party also raised the alarm that over 100 of its chieftains across the 255 wards of the 23 local government areas in the state had been penciled down for possible arrest by security agencies in the state on trump-up charges.
The list of those allegedly penciled down to be arrested, sighted by correspondent, was captioned, ‘List of political thugs with tendacies of disrupting the smooth conduct of the 2023 general elections.’
A chieftain of the party, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the plan was to arrest the PDP field men and detain them until after the elections.
“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,” he said.
The Secretary of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Wusono, in a statement on Thursday, called for the immediate release of those arrested.
He said, “We wish to bring to the attention of the country and the world, the spate of arrests of our members by the security agencies in Kaduna State.
“The Deputy Director, Media of the state PDP Campaign Committee, Saidu Adamu, has been arrested at his residence and is currently in detention at the DSS facility in Kaduna State.
“We also wish to alert you that two of our ward executives from Kabala, Kaduna North, namely El Abbass Mohammed and Talib Lawal have also been arrested. They are also being held in detention.”
However, the Kaduna State Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Salisu Tanko-Wusono, distanced his party from the arrest of the PDP chieftains.
“We are not behind PDP members’ arrest. But what I know is that nobody is above the law and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If I commit an offence security agencies will come after me,” Wusono said.
