Sokoto PDP, APC Trade Words Over Guber Poll

Sokoto State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the allegations levelled against it as the ranting of a defeated political party which cries foul when the opponents win.

The APC state chairman, Hon Isa Sadiq Acida, at a press conference, said the PDP is the architect of its electorafailure because of its poor performance in the education, health, water supply and rural development sectors in the state.

“Indeed, the destruction of the local government’s administration and the virtual collapse of the entire state government civil service system are only a few of the reasons that brought about their downfall.

“As I speak to you today, being Wednesday, March 22, a greater percentage of the Sokoto State civil servants are yet to receive their February salary,” Hon Acida stated.

The state chapter of the PDP had attributed its loss in last Saturday elections to unprecedented misuse of security to arrest, harass and intimidate its members.

The party chairman, Hon Muhammad Bello Aliyu Goronyo, also alleged that innocent citizens were killed by close associates of the leader of the APC in the state and its teeming members were subjected to harrowing treatment deliberately by the leadership of the APC.

He however pointed accusing fingers in the direction of the minister of police affairs, Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi, who serves as the director general of the APC Campaign Council in the state.

According to Goronyo, “Since the announcement of the result of the election which purportedly gave legitimacy to unprecedented electoral fraud in the state, the much-anticipated political violence which characterise the APC antecedent in the state has manifested in alarming proportion across all the local governments in the state.

“We are indeed constrained to put on record the dastardly act of killings that occurred in some parts of the state. Three innocent citizens were killed in Shagari and the son of PDP supporter, the late Armiya’u Mada in Tudun Wada area in Sokoto.

“Meanwhile instead of arresting and arranging the perpetrators to face justice, security is busy focusing attention on PDP supporters based on prompting by the APC leadership in the state.”

Alhaji Goronyo said the party is already in possession of disturbing violation of the Electoral Act and that appropriate measures will be taken to address the anomaly to ensure that the right of the voters is upheld.