PRESS STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 27TH, 2023
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has vehemently condemned the alarming and unjustified actions of the Kwara State Police, who seem to have deviated from their core duty of safeguarding lives and property to become a tool for suppressing dissenting voices on behalf of the Abdulrazaq-led Kwara State government.
PDP in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Olusola Adewara (Sholyments) described the clampdown on critics of the Government as unwarranted and a threat to Democracy, noting that it will be counter-productive for Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to think arresting people can stop Kwarans from talking about the poorly constructed Tanke Bridge which has attracted national embarrassment for his government due to several structural errors and engineering defects which are feasible to the blinds.
“We express our deep concern over the recent arrest and detention of an Islamic cleric, Alhaji Abdulganiyu Babaimole since Friday evening, when the police were aware of the public holiday on Monday and Tuesday.
We are particularly disturbed by the forceful manner in which he was apprehended during Friday evening prayers in a mosque in the Pakata area of Ilorin by armed men from the surveillance unit of the Kwara Police, A-Division command.
We also have our intelligence that Alhaji Babaimole is being threatened to falsely implicate our State Publicity Secretary, Comrade Olusegun Olusola Adewara (Sholyments), in a bid to make a false confessional statement in fabricating charges against him. This show of impunity by the Police is an indication that the Kwara Police is assisting the Government in plunging the state into a theatre of political crisis.
To worsen the picture, we are informed of an ongoing wave of arrests targeting opposition figures and government critics across the Ilorin metropolis. Police are reportedly storming homes to effect arrests on behalf of the Kwara state government. We have been informed of the recent arrests of Comrade Solihu Onirakunmi and Comrade Jimoh Olamilekan Waheed on baseless charges related to government criticism. This blatant disregard for democratic principles and the suppression of freedom of speech is unacceptable.
It is disheartening to observe that, the Kwara Police Commissioner, instead of prioritizing the apprehension of actual criminals and bandits terrorizing our people across the state, they are assisting the government in clamping down on law-abiding citizens who are merely expressing their displeasure over the failures of the Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
We remember the murder of our brother and friend, Comrade Yusuf Mubarak Authority who was killed in cold blood by unknown assailants since September. Also, a few days back, Kwarans are shocked to learn of the assassination of Dr. David Adefikayo, the Medical Director of Dafikayo Clinic in Kanbi community, Moro local government area of the state. We ask the police commissioner if he has exerted similar energy on the perpetrators of these dastard acts since their occurrences, we believe if the Police had exerted the same quantum of energy to go after those criminals, Kwara would today be a haven.
Furthermore, we express our disappointment in the Kwara State Commissioner of Police for seemingly protecting members of the ruling party, despite formal petitions lodged against them. Ignoring these complaints with flimsy excuses undermines the credibility of law enforcement in Kwara.
“While calling for the immediate and unconstitutional release of Alhaji Abdulganiyu Babaimole, Solihu Onirakunmi, and others who are unlawfully detained with impunity, we urgently call on the Inspector General of Police to intervene and call the compromised Commissioner of Police in Kwara to order to avoid plunging the state into political crisis.”
Signed:
Olusegun Olusola Adewara (Sholyments),
State Publicity Secretary,
Kwara PDP
