Date: 2014-11-27

Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday disagreed on the attack on the state’s Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed.

Ahmed’s convoy was reportedly attacked by suspected PDP thugs in Kaiama, headquarters of Kaiama Local Government area of the state during the commissioning of the reconstruction of Kaiama-Kishi Federal road and commissioning of Kaiama General Hospital on Tuesday.

Following the incident, the APC issued a statement through its state’s Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, to condemn the attack and indicted the PDP.

APC, which described the incident as the height of political provocation, called on the police to investigate the matter and bring PDP thugs to book.

The party said it had issued more than 15 press statements on the violent tendencies of the PDP in Kwara State but “nothing seems to have changed about the party’s threat to peace.

"Apparently bitter and terrified by the rousing reception accorded Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and his entourage by APC members and the good people of Kaiama, a member of PDP State Executive Committee (SEC) led his armed thugs to mount ambush on the road around a PDP secretariat, which is not far away from the Emir's palace immediately after the turbaning.   

"The armed thugs launched unprovoked attacks on the convoy of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed. Many vehicles were destroyed in the convoy while our party members sustained injuries”, it said.  

It added that it cannot fathom why the few armed PDP thugs on rampage in Kaiama on Tuesday would choose to welcome development with violence.

"The competence of the security agencies in Kwara State is being challenged by activities of PDP thugs in Kwara State. If the people in Mr Governor's convoy cannot be immuned from ambush and attack, then, the ordinary people of Kwara State without privileges of police escort are at the mercy of rampaging PDP thugs in Kwara State.

"Security agencies should know that the attack on the Mr. Governor's convoy is a signal to the well-oiled violence machinery the PDP intends to launch in Kwara State in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.

"We call on the Police Command and other security agencies in Kwara State to promptly investigate and bring to book the PDP thugs who orchestrated the attack.

But the PDP chairman, Iyiola Oyedepo, in an exclusive telephone chat with our reporter yesterday, dismissed the APC allegation, adding that it was the reaction of the people of the local council.

“It is not true. It is the people of the local government of Kaiama who were around during the commissioning that reacted having been deceived for 12 years.

“That attack was the reaction of the people, not the PDP”, he added.