Date: 2019-02-06

The information minister, Lai Mohammed, has said only criminals and political thugs need to be worried in Kwara State.

He said this is because they (miscreants) will not be allowed to cause violence or disrupt the forthcoming elections.

In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, the minister said the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Kwara State Chapter, had alleged that the federal government was planning to clamp down on opposition parties.

He said the allegation by the "shadowy" CNPP is a panic reaction to his consistent call on the security agencies to rid the nation of all known thugs in Kwara State, "to provide a level playing field for all the parties".

"A similar action by the security agencies went a long way in ensuring the success of the 17 Nov. 2018 by-election in the Irepodun/Ekiti/Oke-Ero/Isin Federal Constituency in Kwara, which was won by our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and which was widely adjudged to be free, fair and peaceful," he said.

He said thugs and other criminals in the state need to be worried as "they won’t get the chance to disrupt the conduct of the forthcoming elections".

He said the move had made those "whose modus operandi is to use thugs and hooligans to snatch ballot papers, disenfranchise voters and generally terrorise the citizenry during elections restless and uneasy".

"We have no apologies for ridding the state of these delinquents," he said

However, he said all law-abiding residents of the state have nothing to fear.