The All
Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over a police siege on the
residence of the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential
Campaign Organization, Shehu Garba, saying the action is in line with the
ongoing harassment and intimidation of the party’s leadership by security
agencies.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Garba’s residence at
the NNPC Quarters, Area 11, Abuja, has been surrounded by armed policemen since
3 a.m. on Thursday, making it impossible for him to even go to the mosque for
prayers.
”Going after the Spokesman of our party’s Presidential Campaign
Organization is aimed at muffling the organization’s voice and abridging the
constitutionally-guaranteed rights of the Spokesman himself. This is antithetic
to democracy and totally unacceptable,” it said.
APC called on those who sent the armed security personnel to
Garba’s residence to immediately order their withdrawal and tell Nigerians what
he has done to warrant such harassment.
The party said coming after the siege by armed troops on the
residence of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in Lagos and a
similar siege on the Imo State Government House in Owerri, it is now clear that
the Jonathan Administration has finally launched its much-anticipated clampdown
on the opposition ahead of the general elections.
”The PDP and the Jonathan Administration are bent on badgering
the opposition through the harassment, intimidation and arrest of its leaders
as well as the circulation of unfounded rumours against the party. These
actions are all aimed at fomenting a crisis and scuttling the forthcoming
elections.
”We are therefore calling on all Nigerians as well as the
international community to take note of this growing pattern of harassment and
intimidation of the opposition, and the effect such action will have on the
conduct of the elections,” it said.
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