Gov Sule Orders Probe Into APC Presidential Campaign Disruption

Certain high-profile personalities within the political class planned and orchestrated skirmishes targeting Vice President Kashim Shettima at the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Rally in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Governor Abdullahi Sule has alleged.

Governor Sule disclosed this yesterday during an expanded security meeting at the Government House, Lafia, convened to review security lapses at the rally held on Wednesday at Lafia Square.

According to the governor, the Vice President’s convoy was disrupted during his visit to the Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I (Rtd), at the Emir’s palace by youths loyal to certain political elements in the state.

He said the same youths were later smuggled into the venue of the rally, where they targeted VIPs in what he described as an orchestrated plan.

The governor said those who carried out the offensive on the streets were mere messengers, stressing that the main planners were bigwigs behind the scenes. He noted that the larger motive was to scuttle the rally through a breach of peace.

He urged security agencies to fish out the real culprits behind the plot and bring them to justice.

He described the incident as an embarrassment to the Vice President, who attended the rally on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The embarrassment was not to the state or the Presidential Campaign Council alone. It was an embarrassment to the Vice President on behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is the reason why we cannot take it lightly,” Sule stated.

He said the investigation must go beyond the arrest of youths on the ground to identify their sponsors, warning: “We cannot, at the end of the day, after having such an embarrassment, just go and arrest five or six Almajiris and say that is the end of it. It will not work.”

Sule also questioned the circumstances surrounding the use of tear gas at the venue, particularly around the podium where he and other governors were standing, and called for a thorough investigation into the conduct of security personnel.

Earlier, Secretary to the Government of Nasarawa State, Labaran Shuaibu Magaji, SAN, said the VP’s visit to the Emir was not originally part of the Presidential Campaign Council’s programme but was undertaken at the VP’s instance in recognition of the traditional institution.

Magaji alleged that after the royal homage, thugs allegedly seen wearing T-shirts bearing the picture of former Governor Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura obstructed the VP’s convoy, while suspected opposition supporters disguised in APC T-shirts gained access to the rally venue, chanted opposition slogans and threw an object suspected to be a shoe towards the podium.

He said the state government had requested that security agencies activate their investigative machinery, noting that on Monday, 2 November, the governor had convened the local organising committee, where security chiefs assured of adequate security arrangements.

Meanwhile, the IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu Campaign Organisation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has rejected attempts to link its candidate, Senator Al-Makura, to the incident.

In a rejoinder signed by its Director of Digital Media and Strategic Communications, High Chief Otaru Douglas, the organisation described the allegation as irresponsible and politically motivated, insisting Adamu was nowhere near the venue.

He argued that the incident was a spontaneous reaction of the masses to the APC’s choice of successor and internal crisis, urging the ruling party to reconcile aggrieved stakeholders rather than witch-hunt opposition figures.

The Campaign Organisation also alleged that over 80 per cent of genuine APC members in the state have defected to the SDP due to high-handedness and lack of internal democracy, and called on security agencies to conduct an impartial investigation while urging its supporters to remain law-abiding ahead of the 2027 elections.

The Nasarawa State Government said it awaits the outcome of the security investigation.