Olu Samuel, Lokoja

The All Progressive Congress and the Social Democratic party,SDP have been trading blames over the gunmen’s attack on the residence of the state Residence electoral Commissioner,Dr Gabriel Longpet in the early hours of Friday.

Gunmen yet to be identified had stormed the residence of the REC shooting sporadically and also destroyed s

A statement issued Friday morning by the Commissioner on the commission’s X account stated that some unidentified gunmen launched an attack on the residence of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lokoja, Kogi State in the early hours of Friday.

Sharing photos INEC said, “In the early hours of today, Friday 1st December 2023, around 3.30am, gunmen attacked the residence of our Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Lokoja, Kogi State.

Addressing a press conference on Friday,the APC campaign council pointed acussing fingers at the defeated governership candidate of the Social Democratic party,SPD and called for his arrest and prosecution.

The Director, Media and publicity of the APC campaign council, Kingsley Fanwo said that Ajaka and his SDP supporters have shown enough evidence that they are voilent and should be held responsible for what happened last night at the residence of the REC.

The Council said that the attack was perpetrated days after it alerted the nation of the plans of SDP thugs to attack INEC, adding that “they have finally done their worst by attacking the residence of the Kogi State INEC Commissioner, engaging security agents in a fierce gun battle and eventually burning down some vehicles in the residence and in the area.”

Fanwo,said, “The same arsonists also had an attempt to burn down the Kogi State Government House foiled by our eagle-eye security agents. The same attempt was foiled at the State APC Secretariat in Lokoja.”

According to the APC, the SDP in the state and their collaborators are desperate to destroy some documents in INEC to cover the heist they committed in Kogi East where they allegedly killed APC supporters “and drove them out of collation centres to forge the results that were eventually trumped by the massive votes of Kogites for the Governor-Elect.”

The Campaign Council alleged that the SDP candidate and his collaborators were attempting to corrupt certain documents in INEC before handing them to their legal team.

“We have no problem allowing legal teams to access documents and materials. It is the norm. But we won’t allow any desperate blood thirsty politician tamper with the true verdict of the Kogi people,” Fanwo declared.

He noted that “the bold-face criminality being perpetrated by the defeated SDP candidate and his violent gang of criminals was as a result of the lack of consequences over the gruesome killing of an APC supporter, Khadijat, at Kotonkarfe by agents of the SDP,” adding that they had imported thugs from neighbouring states into Kogi.

“They shamelessly came out to say Khadijat was bearing an arm. Till date, Muritala Yakubu Ajaka and his gun welding killers have been moving freely on the streets. If they had been arrested for killing an innocent woman, they wouldn’t have had the gut to attempt to attack the Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner,” he stressed.

The Campaign Spokesperson stated, “We also told the world of plans by the SDP to burn down the INEC Office in Lokoja. We thank the Police and other security agencies for protecting the INEC Office. Frustrated by the watertight security around INEC, the gun throttling SDP criminals went to the residence of the Kogi State INEC Commissioner in an attempt to kill him. They were engaged in a fierce gun battle and they resorted to burning vehicles and other valuables around the area.

“The reason they are desperate to destroy some documents in INEC is to cover the heist they committed in Kogi East where they killed APC supporters and drove them out of collation centres to forge the results that were eventually trumped by the massive votes of Kogites for the Governor-Elect. They are attempting to corrupt certain documents in INEC before handing them to their legal team. We have no problem allowing legal teams to access documents and materials. It is the norm. But we won’t allow any desperate blood thirsty politician tamper with the true verdict of the Kogi people.

“After their violent protests a few days ago, our people have also moved to Lokoja to ensure their mandate is protected. Resorting to assassination and arson will never help the Social Democratic Party and their confused candidate.

“Now is the time to arrest Muritala Yakubu Ajaka before he throws Kogi into a state of anomie. Democracy is the expression of the wishes of the people. Those wishes have been expressed and no amount of bullets can silence the voice of the ballot. We are calling on the Police, DSS and other security agencies to immediately arrest the slide to anarchy by arresting Muritala Yakubu Ajaka and his co-swimmers in the pool of violence. We have cautioned our supporters to remain calm and the call will be more effective if the anarchists are immediately apprehended and prosecuted.

Meanwhile the Social Democratic party,SDP has denied any involvement in the attack on the Resident Electoral Commissioner’s Resident.

A statement issued on Friday in Lokoja by the Director New Media, Muri/ Sam campaign organisation,David Ijele stated that “We strongly condemn the assassination attempt on the INEC Resident Commissioner for Kogi state, Dr. Hale Gabriel Longpet, which took place in Lokoja at approximately 2:00am this morning, December 1st, 2023.

According to him,”Election should not be treated as a war, nor should it be a matter of life and death. If the election was won fairly and transparently, then the legal process should be allowed to run its course without interference. However, it is unacceptable for thugs, in their high numbers yesterday, to be subject to fake protests, insisting that, on no account should forensic teams be allowed to do their jobs”.

He said “We are grateful for the timely intervention of the Army, as the man and his family could have been wiped out overnight. The attackers also burnt his vehicles and took other valuables. This kind of behavior is not acceptable in a democratic society.

Those individuals who have been involved in these attacks on INEC REC must be held accountable for their actions. We call for all those who have been involved in the protests, inciting violence and making provocative statements, to be apprehended and brought to justice.

“We stand with Dr. Longpet and his family during this difficult time, and we will continue to work towards a peaceful and transparent electoral process.

Murtala Yakubu Ajaka and his Party SDP are not protesting anywhere around the nation as we are already in court to seek redress”.