Tongues have been waging over the refusal of the state police command’s denial of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from holding its meeting in the state Secretariat, in Gusau, the state capital.
The crisis started on Sunday when sixteen people met for a meeting in the state APC headquarters in Gusau, the state capital where troops of armed policemen stormed the Secretariat and arrested the sixteen leaders of the party.
After the arrest, thousands of APC members in the state trooped out to the state police command protesting against what they described as illegal arrest.
Carrying their placards, some of them were saying that the commissioner of police, Barrister Usman Nagogo, must go, while others were saying that Nagogo was the chairman of PDP in the state.
However, the serious tension at the state police command attracted many crowds which led to the shooting of over 30 teargas by the armed policemen to protect lives and properties and from setting the police command ablaze by the irate APC protesters.
Journalists were seriously affected by the teargas which was aimed to disperse the angry protesters, yet they reinforced waiting to contend any action by the police force.
When interviewed, one of the leaders of the APC, Alhaji Dantawa Sarikin Fulani, said that Nagogo did not follow the rules and regulations guiding the police force, saying that his interest was to protect the ruling PDP in the state which he said was the main reason why the supporters of the party christened him the state chairman of PDP.
According to him, the sixteen leaders of the APC were released when the tension became so tensed for the commissioner to bear that he was forced to release them without conditions.
“If they were guilty then why did he order for their release without conditions. You can imagine this whether there is any iota of truth in his claim” he lamented.
“We have already petitioned the IGP, Alhaji Mohammed Adamu to transfer the commissioner of police from the state before it becomes unbearable that must warrant the federal and state governments to spend more money on security.
“The state commissioner of police has no constitutional right to stop any opposition party from holding its meeting in its Secretariat if the police in the state is not affiliating with the state government,” he lamented.
According to him, the APC leadership has concluded all necessary arrangements to drag the state police commissioner to court for twenty million naira. “Quote me, we can not allow our party to be intimated simply because we are opposition party in the state.
Let the state government come publicly and tell the whole world that it does not want any opposition party in the state” However, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has denied all the allegations against the party, pointing out that it is the responsibility of the security operatives to maintain security of lives and properties of the citizens in the state.
“Even though we have formed government in the state but we can not dictate for the security agencies because they were trained for the job. So they should not lay their elections loses on the ruling PDP in the state ”
However, the State police commissioner, Barrister Usman Nagogo, maintained that the APC leadership did not obtain any permission from the police before engaging in the meeting which he said made the meeting unlawful.
“We are not politically minded but the laws that established the police force must be obeyed. “And when the security agencies attack them on jumping the gun, they would say because they are working for the ruling party. That has always been the tradition in Nigeria political system,” he replied APC.
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