The People’s Redemption Party (PRP) Saturday threatened to sue the Nigeria Police Force over alleged harassment and arrest of 22 party stalwarts in its Bauchi state chapter on February 14, 2019. The party demands their immediate release.
This was contained in a statement signed by the National Chairman of the party, Falalu Bello, who described the harassment and arrest as unwarranted and accused the Police of “crude attempt to scuttle the efforts of the PRP to provide a credible and viable alternative to the good people of Bauchi state.”
He said the abuse of security agencies to persecute political partisan agendas cannot and should not be condoned or tolerated in any civilized society and, certainly, not in 2019.
The statement reads in part: “The attention of the national leadership of the PRP has been drawn to the persistent, illegal and unwarranted harassment of the leadership and members of the PRP in Bauchi state by the Nigeria Police, especially the Rapid Response Unit under the leadership of one SP Mohammed Baba Yola.
“On 14th February, 2019 the said SP Yola led a team of police men to arrest, for no legitimate or legal reasons, 22 leading members of the PRP in Bauchi state, in the house of Alh Shehu Abdullahi, Wakilin Birni, who is also the party ‘s candidate for House of Representative seat in the election scheduled to hold on February 16, 2019.
“This is an unwarranted harassment and intimidation which is obviously a crude attempt to scuttle the efforts of the PRP to provide a credible and viable alternative to the good people of Bauchi state, a happening which remind us of what happened to our members in NEPU in the First Republic.
“The timing of this unwarranted harassment is also very telling, coming as it is doing on the eve of the National Assembly elections in which our candidate is a leading contestant. This cynical abuse of our security agencies to persecute political partisan agenda cannot and should not be condoned or tolerated in any civilized society and certainly not in 2019.’’
