Usman Shidi, member representing Ibi/Wukari Federal Constituency of Taraba State has raised the alarm over what he described as threat to democracy in the north-east state.
Shidi alleged that Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba was stifling opposition using both the security and the courts to unjustly hound and persecute political opponents ahead of the 2023 general election.
The lawmaker who stated this while briefing journalists in Abuja, also alleged that the governor had ordered the arrest of the director-general of his campaign for Senatorial election, Sumaila Yakubu.
Shidi who is currently the chairman, House committee on internal security said that he is the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senatorial candidate for Taraba South, a seat which the governor is also vying for under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said: “The governor is by his actions trying to destroy democracy and bring about the collapse of his home state due to an electoral contest.”
The lawmaker explained that his campaign director-general who is a renowned politician was during a rally bundled into a vehicle and taken to Takum local government by the governor’s aides acting on his instructions and a bail bond of N50 million has been placed on him.
Shidi said: “The governor is the one that ordered the arrest of my campaign director-general in the ongoing campaigns by the party in the senatorial zone.
“He was simply addressing our supporters in Takum town to remain calm because the PDP on the orders of the governor removed all our posters and billboards. But the state government is now interested in inciting violence and has ordered his arrest.
Read also: Reps mull merger of administrative college, public service institute
“He was beaten by the police and stripped naked, thrown into the back of their truck and driven 5 hours along the very bad road from Takum to Jalingo. His vehicle was damaged and vandalized by PDP thugs. His Aide was also seriously injured with his hand fractured.
“Today, the court has set very impossible bail conditions of N50 million and two second-class traditional rulers and two serving permanent secretaries in the state.
“How can we get all these people to stand sureties for him when they are all answerable to the governor? So the whole thing is a calculated attempt to make his bail impossible to secure.”
He also disclosed that the APC is aware of the manhandling of the campaign coordinator by the state chief executive, even as he lamented that he said there should be a surety before bail is effected.
The lawmaker who had defected to the ruling party had asked that all relevant security agencies and stakeholders in elections do ensure that elections in Nigeria are free fair and credible.
He also vowed to seek the intervention of a higher court to challenge the “unlawful arrest and continued detention” of his campaign director-general to force the trial judge to either review the bail conditions or have the charges dismissed.
