Threat of violence: Youths give police 24 hours to arrest Sokoto PDP chairman

Some youths in Sokoto state have called for the immediate arrest of the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over alleged threat of violence ahead of the governorship election in the state.

The chairman was alleged to have directed his party’s supporters to instantly  kill any Permanent Secretary or Director in the state civil service trying to manipulate result in favour of the opposition party in the state.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the youth under the auspices of Concerned Sokoto State Youths viewed the alleged remarks as not only a threat to the peaceful coexistence of our people, but a total declaration of war by desperate politicians.

“Let it be noted that, the PDP Chairman is being  used to stoke breach of peace and create violent crisis that may result into bloodletting in various parts of the state, if immediate action is not taken by the relevant security agencies,”  the chairman of the group, Mustapha Ibrahim, said.

“It is  in the light of these treasonable and inciting utterances by Alhaji Ibrahim Milgoma , that we demand that the State Police Command, should within the next 24 hours, order the arrest and commence immediate trial of the PDP Chairman,” he demanded.

Ibrahim called on the people of the state to come out en masse and exercise their civic rights on Saturday without any fear.

It would be recalled that the leading opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC) also made a similar call which they said would serve as deterrent to other politicians trying to cause havoc during the governorship election in the state.

However, in its swift reaction, the PDP said contrary to APC’s attempt to rewrite history, the PDP had never promoted or engaged in violence all through the campaigns.

“Our attention has been drawn to the contents of a press conference by the All Progressives Congress in which the APC mischievously misinterpreted the call by our Chairman on voters to be vigilant against all rigging and disruptive acts in the upcoming governorship and State Assembly elections,” a statement signed by the Chairman of the party, Milgoma said.

The statement added that “we wish to draw the attention of the public and security agencies to the rigging plans of the APC, which we all have the duty to stop.”