Concerned indigenes of Kogi State have called on the State Security Service (SSS), the police and other security agencies to arrest and prosecute instigators and perpetrators of violence ahead of the November 11 governorship election in the state.
The state has started recording violence as political parties and their candidates have commenced politicking ahead of the poll.
Flanked by many Kogi indigenes, the Vice President, Kogi Youth Leaders Forum, Richard Leke; Organising Secretary, Ishaq Musa; Abdullahi Ugbede, and a former PDP candidate for Kogi West, Adeyemi Olabode John, who jointly addressed a press conference yesterday in Abuja, also called on all the indigenes of the state home and abroad to rise against “merchants of disharmony” in the state.
The text of their press conference reads in part: “We are so much concerned that because governorship election is just five months away, some political miscreants being sponsored by instigators of violence in the state are beginning to set the stage for violence before, during and after the election and blame it on others.
Kogi gov’ship: Indigenes demand arrest, prosecution of violence perpetrators
Imo, Bayelsa, Kogi gov’ship: ActionAid urges INEC to improve on performance
“This type of destructive politics cannot be allowed to play out in Kogi State. We have enjoyed near-perfect peace and harmony in the last eight years and we do not want any group of politicians and non-politicians who know that they cannot win election in an atmosphere of peace and stability to return Kogi State to its former state of anomie.
“We call on the Department of State Services to up its game in Kogi State by ensuring that all purveyors of chaos are firmly dealt with. We demand that anyone seen to be instigating violence in whatever shape or form in Kogi State, no matter how highly placed, be promptly arrested and prosecuted.”
