SDP, PDP stirring up post-election violence in Kogi, APC alleges

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused opposition parties in Kogi of inciting violence and urged the police to bring the perpetrators and their sponsors to justice.

APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, made the call while briefing reporters at the party’s national secretariat yesterday in Abuja.

He recalled that the opposition parties that contested the election, particularly the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were severely conflicted between accepting and challenging the results.

The APC spokesman noted that despite substantial compliance with electoral laws and the constitution in the off-season governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, the post-election situation in Kogi had been controversial.

Morka added that the state had also been bedevilled with orchestrated violence that now threatens its peace and security.

“We are concerned that, as we speak, the SDP and the PDP have engaged in incendiary statements aimed at causing unrest in Kogi State and have put the totality of that blame on our party,” he stated.

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

Morka condemned the attack on the Kogi governorship election petitions tribunal secretary, Mike Umar David, on Monday.

“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,” Morka said.

He recalled that before Monday’s incident involving the tribunal’s secretary, the residence of the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Gabriel Longpet, was also attacked on December 1 by armed hoodlums.

The APC spokesman stressed that the violence in Kogi was barbaric, undemocratic and unacceptable.

He added that the people of Kogi deserved to live in peace and security after the election, saying that the sponsored acts of violence must stop.

“We note and welcome the statement by the Kogi Police Command of an ongoing investigation of the alleged attack on the secretary to the election tribunal and the resident electoral commissioner.

“We urge the police to do so thoroughly and expeditiously and to bring the perpetrators and their sponsors to justice,” Morka said.