Violence: Caution your men now, PDP tells APC, Police
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Police of fomenting crises and violent attacks against its members and consequently cautioned that Nigerians may no longer continue to tolerate such incendiary acts ahead of the elections.
The PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PPCO) particularly condemned in totality, Wednesday’s unwarranted attack and use of brute force,
including firing of tear gas by the Police against thousands of law-abiding members of the PDP in Gumel, Jigawa State, allegedly on instigation of agents of Buhari Presidency and the APC to forcefully stop PDP rally in the state.
In a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, PPCO equally condemned the unprovoked invasion and violent attack on the Ondo State campaign office of the PDP presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, by armed thugs sponsored by the APC.
The party said this is in addition to series of other attacks by the APC and the police, including arresting and detaining PDP members on trumped-up charges, as well as pulling down its campaign materials in various states of the federation.
“It is now clear that the Buhari Presidency, having realised that their smear campaigns against our party and Presidential candidate cannot change the resolve by Nigerians to rally behind our candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has now resorted to physically attacking and unleashing violence against our members.
“We know that the Buhari Presidency had to deploy brute force to disrupt our rally in Jigawa State when it realised that the rally will amplify and reinforce President Buhari and APC’s rejection, particularly in their supposed stronghold, the North West.
“Police now have the order to harass, intimidate and unleash violence on our members in a bid to intimidate and instill fear in our people across the nation. “This informed the ferociousness exhibited by the police in the Jigawa attack where many PDP members were manhandled, injured and traumatised by armed policemen despite the fact that our party obtained official permission from the Police and the Directorate of State Services (DSS) for the rally. “Moreover, we have it on good authority that the attack on our Presidential campaign office in Ondo was coordinated by the APC, which is now in frenetic mode over the soaring popularity of our party and Presidential candidate in the South West geo-political zone”, the statement read. The PPCO warned that this dangerous dimension, which holds an ominous sign that the 2019 election is already under siege by the Buhari Presidency and the APC, who have now listed the Police as an instrument of terror against Nigerians. It said “the APC and Buhari Presidency is putting security agencies, particularly, the police, on collision course with the citizens and this portends great danger to our democracy and corporate existence as a nation, as Nigerians will never succumb to any instrument of intimidation”. Tunde Opalana, Abuja
“Police now have the order to harass, intimidate and unleash violence on our members in a bid to intimidate and instill fear in our people across the nation. “This informed the ferociousness exhibited by the police in the Jigawa attack where many PDP members were manhandled, injured and traumatised by armed policemen despite the fact that our party obtained official permission from the Police and the Directorate of State Services (DSS) for the rally. “Moreover, we have it on good authority that the attack on our Presidential campaign office in Ondo was coordinated by the APC, which is now in frenetic mode over the soaring popularity of our party and Presidential candidate in the South West geo-political zone”, the statement read. The PPCO warned that this dangerous dimension, which holds an ominous sign that the 2019 election is already under siege by the Buhari Presidency and the APC, who have now listed the Police as an instrument of terror against Nigerians. It said “the APC and Buhari Presidency is putting security agencies, particularly, the police, on collision course with the citizens and this portends great danger to our democracy and corporate existence as a nation, as Nigerians will never succumb to any instrument of intimidation”. Tunde Opalana, Abuja
