A purported attack on Dr. Dauda Lawal, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate for state governor, was refuted by the APC’s Zamfara State chapter.
PDP allegedly disregarded the executive order by continuing with their political campaigns in spite of the state’s high degree of insecurity, according to Yusuf Sani, the APC’s publicity secretary.
According to earlier reports, thugs supported by the APC allegedly attacked Lawal in the state’s Government Residential Area during the PDP governorship campaign.
The PDP’s deputy chairman, Mouktar Lugga, and Sani were featured to discuss the concerns in an interview with Channels Television on Monday.
Sani claimed that PDP thugs killed one environmental worker after attacking 18 of them. In addition, he charged that the PDP had shown “insensitivity” to the public by not pausing their campaign while other parties had.
“There was an executive order signed by the governor and other security agencies in the state. The accord asked political parties to be suspended for at least 10 days to enable the agencies to curb insurgents. But the PDP decided not to comply with the order, not taking note that the lives of our citizens should be higher than any goal.”
In response to the alleged high-handedness, and the issue of safety in the Zamfara GRA, the Sani said, “Nigerian Airforce had taken a blow against the bandits and this has caused them to carry out reprisals. This made the governor in collaboration with the state security council make the decision. The bandits blocked the roads. Insecurity in the state is a daily challenge.”
Lugga retaliated by claiming that the APC had continued to utilize insecurity as a political tool without taking into account the association’s and the INEC’s constitutional rights.
He said that the campaign’s schedule was created in the home of the party’s governorship candidate, Dr. Dauda Lawal.
Lugga added, “The PDP had no single billboard because the APC would not allow it. There is a difference between an executive order and the constitution. They should have written to INEC to adjust the date. We obeyed the order when it complied with the INEC timetable.
“All these issues about insecurity are highly politicised. Just some days ago, they opened 45 schools claiming that the state was safe, and then afterwards during our campaigns, they say Zamfara is not safe.
“We applied to the relevant agencies and they permitted us to do so. The campaign was held in the residence of the governorship candidate. It was not done outside the premises. They infiltrated our campaign and attacked our PDP members. We have six security vehicles, yet we were attacked.”
