Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has written a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of some desperate politicians and asked him to investigate those in Kogi State over plots to cause violence and disrupt the coming elections.
In the petition signed by 15 leaders of the group, the CUPP urged the president to use his constitutional powers as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to ensure that politicians whose actions are geared towards making the Nigerian political space conducive for terrorists to thrive are arrested and brought to book.
In the letter, titled: “Urgent Need To Arrest and Prosecute Politicians Trying To Scuttle The 2023 Elections By Blackmailing Our Military”, the CUPP singled out a senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State (name withheld) as the alleged “number one promoter of insecurity” in the state.
The group urged the president to direct the security agencies to act on several petitions against the PDP candidate.
The CUPP leaders said as a major opposition voice since its formation in August 2018, the coalition had been consistent in opposition activities, which tends towards the advocacy for free, fair and credible election, adding that CUPP members had the patriotic duty to address issues that might affect the overall wellbeing of the country regardless of the political party involved.
It faulted an earlier petition by a law firm, allegedly written to discredit the military and the Chief of Naval Staff, saying, “It is not difficult to see through the shenanigans of the petitioners that it was a sponsored blackmail by a desperate politician or a group of disgruntled politicians hellbent on compromising the security of the state prior to the coming election in order to give free reigns to terror and thuggery.”
In its petition, the CUPP specifically said that the PDP candidate had in late 2022 organised a campaign rally at Okene, Kogi Central Senatorial District, and allegedly imported Niger Delta militants into the state for nefarious activities, wondering why security agencies had not invited her till date.
On an earlier petition, which they said was questionably filed by a law firm that had allegedly been hired by promoters of terrorism, the CUPP warned the present administration not to allow unscrupulous politicians defame the military to pave the way for anti-democratic and criminal acts being planned ahead of the elections.
The CUPP petitioners make bold to state that the petition from the lawyers is a blackmail because Commander Akalezi had been dealing with terrorists, who had been going about terrorising Kogi State, its environs and particularly, Ebira indigenes.
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