Rep. Danjuma Shiddid (APC-Taraba) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene over alleged political persecution against the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State.
He fingered Gov. Darius Ishaku as the arrowhead of the persecution of the major opposition party in the state.
The lawmaker, representing Wukari/Ibi Federal Constituency of Taraba and the Senatorial candidate of APC, Taraba South, said this while addressing the National Assembly correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.
He said, “The President is a man of justice and we believe he will do something about the political situation in the state.”
He said the APC was being targeted and intimidated in the state, while calling on the president to urgently intervene in order to stem the tide of political brigandage against opposition.
He said the intimidation was geared towards the 2023 general elections, stressing that APC members in the state had been law abiding citizens.
According to him, “I am crying to the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all security agencies and judiciary to intervene on this matter in Taraba.”
He said the APC members had conducted themselves and no member would do anything to undermine democracy in the state, while appealing to the president to ensure justice prevailed in the state.
He said members of the APC would ensure democracy thrived in the state by playing by the rule, saying the APC would not encourage anarchy or allow members to take the law into their hands.
He said some of his key supporters, including his Director General of his campaign organisation and some coordinators of his campaign council, had become targets of attack by the rulling party.
He alleged that the Director General of his campaign was arrested and detained by the police on spurious claims.
He said the popularity of the APC in the state was responsible for the attack and series of harassment.
According to him, “APC is only waiting for election in Taraba; we cannot even wait till February, but our supporters are being harrassed because of the popularity of our party.”
In his response, the Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Mr Bala Abu, said there was nothing fresh in some of the allegations by the lawmaker.
He said, ” the governor does not make arrest, it is the police that make arrest.
“If somebody has committed an offence or suspected to have committed an offence and the police go after him and arrest him how does the governor come in.
“The governor does not have power of arrest, the governor has no hand in what he is saying,” he said.
