C’River: PDP cautions police against compromising 2023 guber polls
From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
The Cross River State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the state police command against actions that tend towards compromising the governorship election in the state.
The Publicity Secretary of the party in the state Mike Ojisi gave the charge on Thursday in Calabar while formally reacting to a trending police wireless message in the state.
The message which is addressed to CSP Babayola Musa, the Commander RRS says the squad should mobilize to Cross River North and “engage in domination patrols and carry out aggressive raids where necessary and when circumstances warrant”.
PDP in its response said the directive is the height of the desperation by the governor to install a successor by all means.
He called on the police to dismantle the nefarious squad out to compromise the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
In his words, “The Police signal directing DPOs to send all their men to Cross River North for the governorship and House of Assembly elections and to take over patrols, stop-and-search as well as engage in aggressive raids is the height of desperation by Gov Ben Ayade to install a successor by all means.
“We state that we would not in any way be cowed or intimidate by Ayade-led Rapid Response Squad, RSS, which he has armed to the teeth all in a bid to win elections in the north.
“This squad is illegal and has become notorious for election rigging, intimidation and harassment of voters in Cross River north as we experienced during the PDP Senatorial primary held in Ogoja in October 4, 2020 and the Yala/Ogoja House of Representatives by-election held on February 27, 2023.
“We, therefore, call on Commissioner of Police in charge of elections in the State, Garba Aliyu, and the IGP to dismantle this nefarious Squad that are out to compromise the Saturday elections in the north”, the PDP scribe said.
