Kogi gov’ship: Halt violence, CLOs tell Tinubu

  Following the violence in parts of Kogi State ahead of the November 11, 2023, governorship election, the Director of Civil Liberty Organisations (CLO), Steve Aluko, has asked President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene. Speaking yesterday with newsmen in Jos, the Plateau State capital, Aluko said the news of attacks on party supporters and campaign […]

 

Following the violence in parts of Kogi State ahead of the November 11, 2023, governorship election, the Director of Civil Liberty Organisations (CLO), Steve Aluko, has asked President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene.

Speaking yesterday with newsmen in Jos, the Plateau State capital, Aluko said the news of attacks on party supporters and campaign offices, especially the Social Democratic Offices (SDP), was not acceptable and should be of great concern to all.

He appealed to the president to call Governor Yahaya Bello to order, pointing out that as the number one security officer in the state, Bello was responsible for the situation and should ensure that electoral violence was completely stopped.

He noted that the violence and killings in the state during the 2019 elections, especially on opposition parties and their candidates, including the setting ablaze of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women leader should not repeat themselves.

He called on the president to declare a state of emergency on security in the state if the violence continued; adding that the election was supposed to be free, fair, and crisis-free and that all the political parties should be given equal rights and freedom to contest and campaign for elective offices without fear of intimidation.

He further said that if Tinubu did not intervene in the issue of the state by calling the governor to order, it would appear that he (president) or the APC at the national level had a hand in the violence.

He stressed that the election would be the first to be conducted under President Tinubu’s watch, hence that it would be an indictment on his part as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces if such political violence or intimidation was allowed to continue.

Furthermore, he called on the security agents to do the needful so that at the end of the day the lives of the people would be secured and voters would not be intimidated before, during, and after the election.