Senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Kogi Central, Mrs Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, speaks on claims that she has a link with a terrorist suspect identified as Safiu by the Kogi State Government and other related issues in this interview on Channels TV ‘Politics Today’, monitored by Deborah Onyofufeke

The Kogi State Government has asked for your arrest and interrogation, do you know the Safiu man? What is your link with him? Did you give him a contract to destabilise your state?

Just like most Nigerians, I woke up to that unfortunate news and I have not met the Safiu man in question, nor have I contracted with him in any form, nor as I am speaking to you until three weeks back he has been an active member of the APC in Kogi state. You will see pictures of him hobnobbing with Governor Yahaya Bello, the Chief of Staff, and every other person there. He has been bidding on their deeds, so, when I saw the video where Safiu decamped openly, especially the one in which he, amongst other young men, led a project calling for the end of violent activities and thuggery in Kogi Central due to the elections, I said okay, this is the first of its kind and knowing some faces, I was like who is this gentleman, I kept on asking questions, who is this, who is this?. It was in that process they were like, Natasha, some of these gentlemen, including Safiu, could have been the ones that attacked you at the INEC Space Park in Lokoja in 2019 and I felt a bit cold and I was like really? And they said yes that he is a stepbrother to the Chief of Staff who worked with the Governor. That they, the Kogi State Governor, granted Safiu and many others, a pardon from the Nigerian prisons in Kuje. Now, I don’t know if he was a convicted criminal or if he was in prison.

Have you met this Safiu person?

No. I haven’t met him

Have you spoken with him?

I haven’t spoken with him

But you were asking for his release. Did you ask for his release?

I didn’t ask for his release but as a concerned person, I asked questions about the trade more incidence because before the trade more incidents and arrests by the Nigerian Navy from Kogi State.

For those who do not understand what the trade more incident was, there was an arrest led by the Kogi state division of the Nigerian Navy. Give us an understanding of what happened.

I think it was on Tuesday last week. Before that, I got information that Yahaya Bello had secured a search warrant from the court to search my house in my hometown, Ihima, alongside my campaign office and the houses of some key PDP officials. The whole idea behind this search warrant was to plant ammunition and explosives and in the presence of the television stations, he was going to search and embarrass us and then, call for our arrest. The moment we got wind of that, we wrote a petition to the DSS and the Nigerian police. It is acknowledged before the Trademore but Yahaya Bello didn’t know about this otherwise, he wouldn’t have planned all these shams.

Trademore is where your office is?

No. Trademore Estate is in Lugbe and that’s where Safiu was arrested.

So, what is the link between you, Safiu, and the Trademore?

Governor Yahaya Bello should explain what this is. I am only feeding you part of what I see on the news as well.

So, you have written a petition to the DSS

We wrote the petition because we got to know Governor Yahaya Bello was going to stage a search, plant explosives, and get us embarrassed as if they found those kinds of stuff in our possessions and this is what we are trying to do. Let me explain this a little bit. In the 2019 elections, I was tagged as unfit to campaign because I was single and all that, but now that I got married to a gentleman from Delta State, there has been a campaign that I am married to a militant who is going to bring in militancy to Kogi State. So, that’s it. Based on that, Governor Yahaya Bello has carefully been masterminding a plan to find a way of taking me out of the election.

That is a heavy allegation against the governor of your state. This must also come with facts. Well, you are a lawyer, so you understand the application of the issue of information

Yes. Of course, but let me say this now, I have no connection with the Safiu in person other than the fact that he decamped to PDP 3 weeks ago and Yahaya Bello got offended that he would not be able to use him to disrupt the campaigns as he did in the 2019 elections. That’s the gentleman’s offence. So, planting the explosives using the Nigerian Navy but on my way here from AIT, I got to know that Safiu is right now with the DSS because the DSS had to call the Nigerian Navy Kogi division to bring him in. So, that being said, I will appreciate it if the DSS invites me but I will want the DSS to invite Yahaya Bello as well, bring Safiu to the table, and Asuku himself, the chief of staff who claimed to have brought the gentleman from prison and supported him through his life. Now, I would also want the DSS to televise the interrogation, I don’t mind paying for airtime on channels, AIT and TVC, and all that, and we will have it streamed on social media platforms, I would want the interrogation to be filmed because it’s about time that Nigerians, the government, look into this violence.

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Do you say this is political?

It is political because Governor Yahaya Bello knows that he is failing, he’s going to lose. I bet you PDP is going to clear all seats in Kogi state because we are tired of the acting of Yahaya Bello.

Why do you think Safiu is a member of the APC as his name is not on the APC register? How did you know about the plan to arrest Safiu if you have no connection with Safiu?

The pictures that were shown on slides are all members of APC and they are all members of the government invariably to the layman, when you see a person hobnobbing everywhere with a governor, you just assume that there is a presumption of fact that he could be a member of the APC. It is not my prerogative to go into the word register to ascertain if he is registered. Then, this is a petition, it was a blank petition, we didn’t mention Trademore at all, what we wrote here was the notification that Yahaya Bello had planned to stage a search and plant evidence to implicate us.

How did you get to know this?

We have people. What Yahaya Bello doesn’t know or knows is that some of the people, both commissioners and special advisers and assistants who work with him are not in principle with him because they are fed up and tired of his mode of administration but they are too scared to resign for the safety of their lives. So, whenever any plan happens, they call me and say see Natasha please be careful. This is what he is planning to do.

You were a former member of the APC

Yes. A member of his cabinet two people notified me of that so, immediately we knew that he has gotten a search warrant to go into my home, I didn’t even know about the Trademore. You can read the petition, I am going to leave you a copy and you can post it on your page.

Are you worried that once you are investigated because this man Safiu, is said to have joined the PDP and he’s linked to you and the government of Kogi State is taking up this matter? Are you worried in any manner about what could come out of that?

I am not worried because my hands are clean, I’m not PDP as in the party- I am a product of PDP. I’m not the only one contesting the election, there are three senators across the three senatorial districts, there are three House of Reps members and there are several House Assembly as well.

Why is there a matter about you?

That’s the thing because I am a force to reckon and they believe I am going to nail the coffin on Yahaya Bello’s political career and all this Yahaya Bello is doing, is just the last kicks of a dying horse, and like I said, I am very excited, I am happy and I will pray that the DSS and the Inspector General of Police and Naval headquarters look into this because this particular gentleman, lieutenant Charles Uchenna Akalieze who leads the Naval division in Kogi state has caused a lot of mayhem.

This is a very strong allegation you are making and I’m happy that you are a lawyer

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Yes.

What are your closing thoughts on the show?

I am calling on the President, all Nigerians, and all the security agencies to please call Governor Yahaya Bello to order. We do not have to kill ourselves for power.