Arrest of Kwara senator is provocative, says PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has kicked against the arrest of one of its senators in Kwara state, describing it as a script being played by the “losing” All Progressives Congress (APC).

Rafiu Ibrahim, who represents Kwara south senatorial district, was arrested on the eve of the presidential and national assembly elections scheduled for Saturday.

It is not yet clear why the senator was arrested but the APC had asked the police to pick him up over the violence which broke out in Ojuku community under the senatorial district.

Reacting via a statement, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesman, asked the police to immediately release the federal lawmaker.

“The PDP holds that the continued detention of Senator Ibrahim on the eve of a crucial election, in which he is a lead contender, is completely provocative,” Ologbondiyan said.

“This resort to police brutality by the APC is a script by a losing team which seeks to introduce violence and use the police to execute their rigging plots.”

The party said it had protested the deployment of Kayode Egbetokun, a former security aide of Bola Tinubu, APC national leader, as Kwara state police commissioner.

It told the APC that “nobody has the monopoly of show of strength”, adding that its members in Kwara are law-abiding “but will never allow themselves to be subjugated by anybody, particularly in this critical electoral process.”

“In this regard, our members should immediately activate their individual and collective defence mechanisms by using every legitimate means available, to resist the aggression of the APC and their compromised security agents as well as dismantle their rigging machineries,” the party added.

“We know that the plan of the APC is to stop our members from accessing their polling centers. Our members should deploy all legitimate means, including lawful self-preservation strategies and tactical maneuvers to beat the aggression, arrive at their respective polling centers and exercise their voting rights accordingly.”

TheCable has not been able to get the police to comment on the arrest as Ajayi Okasanmi, spokesman of the Kwara police command, did not answer calls or respond to a text message sent.