In what has become a regular pattern, the All Progressive Congress in Kaduna State has once again alleged that the party in power in the state is doing all it can to ensure that the people of the state do not have the opportunity to express their wishes through the ballot and bring about their desired change in the upcoming elections.
The latest allegation came just as the state governor, Alhaji Ramaln Yero, held a rally in the town of Zaria on Saturday. According to top APC members and party officials, policemen and some PDP members went around town in the early hours of Saturday to destroy posters and billboards of the APC as part of their preparation to receive the state governor.
While speaking on the matter in an interview, the Vice-Chairman of the APC for Zone 1 senatorial district that includes Zaria local government area, Abubakar Rilwan, stated that members of the PDP in collaboration with police officers went about destroying APC posters and billboard in the early hours of the day the state governors was to visit. “We saw some security agents with some PDP people who went around cutting our posters and billboards in Zaria local government area just because their governorship candidate is coming to Zaria,” he said, adding that the police and the PDP men came in Hilux vehicle with the words, Zaria Local Government, written on it and they operated around KofaDoka, which is just outside one of the main gates of Zaria city, inside Zaria city itself, and in Tundunwada area.
Also speaking on the incident, Salma Musa, Secretary to the APC Women Leader in Zone 1, said, “Early this morning, policemen went about destroying Mallam’s (El-Rufai) posters in Zaria, and they replaced them with the posters of Ramalan Yero within Zaria city and Kofan Doka. We knew they did this because Yero was coming to Zaria for a rally. Yero came, went on rally around town and left at well past 6pm.”
Another APC stalwart, Umar Yahaya, who is the party’s State Youth Leader said he had been in Zaria for over twenty four hours before the incident happened and the earliest information he had that APC posters were being destroyed came at about 12:20am on Saturday. “At about past 12:20am on Saturday, I started to receive phone calls that some people were going around town, destroying APC posters and billboards,” Yahaya said. “Our people were able to confirm that the policemen were with well-known PDP thugs. They came in Hilux vehicle and because it was in the night and we didn’t know what they had in mind, we didn’t challenge them. We left them to do what they wanted to do. But early this morning, we went round town and we saw the damage done to our posters, banners, and billboards. We also did a video coverage of what we saw. As I speak to you there are two police vehicle placed very close to my house possibly to monitor me and our party members. I don’t know what is happening; they destroy our posters and billboards and they are still posting policemen to monitor us. From Kofa Doka to Emirs palace, to Ungwu Leman Umaru, every poster and banner has been destroyed. At Kofan Doka roundabout, the billboards of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai have been vandalised.”
Offering his opinion on why this happened, Yahaya said there are many reasons but the immediate one is because the state governor wanted to hold a rally in Zaria and Zaria is the hometown of the governor where people did not like him, adding that for this reason his supporters did whatever they could to ensure the governor was not embarrassed.
“The only reason they did this is because Zaria is the home town of the governor and Zaria people are angry with the ruling party. This is because for the past sixteen years, PDP governments have failed to give us portable drinking water here in Zaria, and there are many other issues. We don’t have a functional government hospital that you can go to for comprehensive medical attention. So people are frustrated in Zaria and even in other places. PDP knows this and they have been chasing and harassing APC members all around. They know that when the governor comes to town, people would be shouting in support of APC and Mallam El-Rufai and the PDP didn’t want to embarrass the governor.”
Yahaya said he and his party members have been doing all they could to ensure that APC members do not have any clash with PDP members whom he accused of being ready to cause mayhem in order to ensure that the upcoming election did not take place in an atmosphere of peace.
“Yesterday, the Divisional Police Officer here summoned a security meeting between APC and PDP because the state governor was coming and he enlightened us about security issues,” he said. “At the meeting the police told us about people who use containers to mount their posters by the roadsides. The police said some elements may capitalise on this to threaten the peace. So both political parties were informed to inform their members to desist from using such containers for fear that they might be used to plant bombs. While we went around town today to inform our people not to use such containers anymore, PDP had earlier gone around town in the night to destroy our posters and billboards instead.”
Yahaya affirmed that the incident was for the purpose of the governor’s rally because the posters and billboards had been around for long and nothing had tampered with them before now. “That is the reason, it’s the major reason because the posters and billboards have been there for a long time, but just because the governor was coming for a campaign rally they were destroyed,” he said, adding that the party had lodged a complaint about the incident with the police but because of their experience in the past did not expect any action to be taken. “We have lodged a complaint with the police, and they have not done a thing about it. We have taken the case to Tudunwada police station as well as the police headquarters here,” he said, while also confirming an allegation made by Rilwan that this was not the first time a case of such nature was reported to the police but nothing was done.
“There was the case of Sarkin Gwandu who has been destroying our posters and billboards but nothing has been done. The man damaged one house in Zaria city that is painted with our party logo and also removed our billboards at Kofan Doka at one time. The said house, which belongs to one of our supporters, is near the house of Sarkin Gwandu. We have a copy of the letter we wrote to the police. But nothing has been done.”
In spite of the incident on Saturday, Yahaya said he and other party leaders have been appealing to APC supporters not to give in to provocation. “The government does not want to see law and order as the general election approaches. But we have been trying to control our people so that the government will not have a reason to cause chaos, and we have warned them not to respond to this kind of provocation,” he said. “We have been going round since morning to consult with our people, telling them not to be provoked but to allow the PDP and the governor to do their rally peacefully. We will replace our posters right from today. We only wait for the PDP to finish their rally,” he added.
