The Edo State Government has alleged that 10 members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state have been arrested and whisked away to Abuja by the Nigeria Police.
DAILY POST reports that Chris Nehikhare, the State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, raised the alarm at a press conference on Tuesday in Benin City.
Nehikhare alleged that the arrested leaders of the party include a local government chairman and operatives of the State Vigilante Network.
He alleged that some of them have spent months in Police detention without being charged to court, noting that continuous detention without being charged to court is a clear violation of their fundamental human rights.
“The APC are only jittery over their impending loss and are now deploying all sorts of Machiavellian tactics to avert the will of the people and get to Osadebey Avenue. But they must know that the election is already a lost cause for them,” he said.
He urged the police and other security agencies to conduct themselves professionally as the governorship election approaches and ensure the maintenance of law and order.
Reacting to a statement issued by the APC, Nehikhare added, “Our attention has been drawn to an infantile, reckless, and utterly baseless statement by the Media Consultant to the Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Council, Kassim Afegbua, in which he made a number of condescending, spurious and outlandish accusations.
“The tissue of well-worded falsehoods are products of the overactive imaginations of the APC and their media lackey who know they cannot win the forthcoming September 21 governorship election in a free and fair contest having presented a lacklustre and absolutely tepid candidate and have resorted to campaigns of calumny and stirring crisis and violence in the State to perfect their devious rigging plot.
“The vile and inflammatory comments are not only condescending and disdainful but also an insult to the sensibilities of the Edo people. Were it possible for the government to pursue legal action for libel, Kassim Afegbua should be in court to substantiate these baseless and spurious allegations.
“Is it not interesting how the APC and Afegbua have taken their time to explain to Edo people their plans to cause chaos, stir crisis and undermine security in the State, and make a show of accusing the PDP of the same?
“Pray tell who has been planning to resort to violence to win the elections? Who has been boasting of federal might since the start of the campaigns? Whose thugs besieged Airport Road causing mayhem and disorderliness that led to the death of a Police Officer? Who has used the Police to harass supporters of the PDP in the last few weeks? It has been the APC all along.”