The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has called for the declaration of a state of emergency in Kwara State and the suspension of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in the “interest of justice, morality, and public safety.”
The state’s Chairman of the party, Isa Bawa Adamu, and some party leaders, during a world press conference yesterday, at the party’s secretariat in Ilorin, reacted to a trending video of some bandits being arrested in Auchi, Edo State, by men of the Nigerian Army.
They, however, alleged that the bandits were being sponsored by the Kwara State government. The PDP said that in the video, the suspects categorically alleged that officials of the state government supplied them with AK-47 rifles and a government-crested operational vehicle for their activities.
Consequently, the PDP urged the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to cease communicating serious security issues to AbdulRazaq, whom they described as a security risk.
“As a responsible political organisation and critical stakeholder in the Kwara project, the PDP is compelled to address the people of Kwara State, Nigerians at large, and the international community on a most disturbing, weighty, and grave national security concern that has now placed our state in the national spotlight for the wrong reasons,” it said.
The party, however, lamented that the allegation is coming at a time when the people of Kwara State have experienced unimaginable killings and kidnappings by criminal bandits.
MEANWHILE, a statement by the state’s Commissioner for Communications, Bolanle Olukoju, yesterday, absolved the state government of complicity in the issue.
“The state did not give weapons to any individual. Indeed, no state government has the power to arm anyone with an AK-47,” the statement stated.
Olukoju said that the individuals mentioned in the crime did not state that the Kwara State government gave them any weapons. She added that the Ifelodun Local Council had clarified that the security van was given to the vigilantes initially deployed in Ifelodun to strengthen existing security.
“These vigilantes have since left Ifelodun. However, the council had repeatedly complained to relevant authorities that its van was not returned to its pool.
“To win the war against banditry and other crimes, we urge enhanced interagency coordination, intelligence sharing, and cooperation among the security agencies.
“As the security forces are probing the development, we urge the people, especially online media platforms and bloggers, to avoid biased assimilation of information or misrepresenting things as such poses threat to human life and public peace,” she further said.
