Don’t set Kogi ablaze, APC cautions PDP, SDP candidates

• … A/Court relocates election tribunal to Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has cautioned the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State, Dino Melaye, and that of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Yakubu Ajaka, against setting the state ablaze through their actions and utterances.

Addressing newsmen at the APC national secretariat on Thursday in Abuja, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said instead of seeking redress in court after suffering defeat in the election, Melaye and Ajaka have been blackmailing the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and making statements capable of “inciting violence” in the state.

Recall that there have been violent incidents in the state before and after the elections in which INEC declared candidate of the APC, Ahmed Usman Ododo, winner.

The APC said it welcomed the decision of Kogi Police Command to investigate the alleged attack on the Secretary to the election tribunal and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Gabriel Hale Longpet, and asked security agencies to do a thorough job on the matter.

The APC said, “Despite substantial compliance with electoral laws and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the conduct of the elections, the post-election situation in Kogi has been bedeviled by contrived controversies and orchestrated violence that now threaten the peace and security of the good state of Kogi.

“The opposition parties that contested that election, particularly the SDP and the PDP are severely conflicted between accepting or challenging the result of the election. Rather than carry out comprehensive evaluation of the reasons they were rejected at the polls, these parties have continued to peddle falsehood and promote ethnic and social unrest in the state.

“We condemn, as dangerous, the incendiary rhetoric of opposition figures in Kogi State who continue to inflame passion and incite strife. Their actions and utterances provide a charged atmosphere for escalation of violence in the state.

“We especially condemn the reported attack against the Secretary of the Election Tribunal, Mike Umar David, on Monday, December 4, 2023, in very spurious circumstances. The SDP clearly has a lot of explaining to do regarding this incident. Their utterances and actions, prior to, and since, that incident, betray suspicious special knowledge of the incident.”

Meanwhile, the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem has relocated the Kogi Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal from Lokoja to Abuja.

A statement by David Umar Mike, Secretary of the Tribunal, said that its sittings would now be at the National Judicial Institute on Umar Yar’Adua Way.