The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, caucus in the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, November expressed concern about the future of the opposition in Nigeria following the murder of PDP women leader in Kogi State, Salome Abu.
Political thugs killed the late Mrs. Abu shortly after Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello won re-election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe said that APC hoodlums chased her to her house, doused the residence with petrol and burnt her to death in public view.
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“You have all seen the viral video of her skeleton and especially her skull…for the mere fact that she is an opposition leader and a woman at that. If you are in the opposition and you are singled out to be murdered, it tells us that what we are going to see will be dangerous for Nigerian politics, if it is not curbed immediately and now.”
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari, Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu and security agencies to fish out the killers of the woman.
“What it tells us is that the rest of us who are in the opposition are no longer safe. What it also tells us is that anybody who seeks to win an election can go ahead and commit murder and mayhem. And as long as he belongs to the APC, he would be left free.
“We hear that the police said they are launching an investigation as usual. But this is something that we don’t want pushed under the carpet because it involves life. When you get to power on the ashes and bones of all these people that you have killed, God is watching you, especially the governor of Kogi State.
“We cannot continue to condone these attacks. If we leave the matter to continue this way, we don’t know what is going to happen in 2023. Let us see action. The caucus of the PDP in the Senate is not in support of these anomalies in the past elections.
”He described what happened in Bayelsa and Kogi States during the elections as outright intimidation, killing and connivance between security agencies and different groupings in the APC to perpetrate hate on Nigerians.
The APC, however, condemned the post-election violence in Kogi. In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, the party condoled with the family of the deceased and others affected by the incidents.
It said: “While the Kogi police command says the killing was as a result of a reprisal attack, we urge Kogi people to ensure this does not escalate. We are aware that the Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has already directed law enforcement agencies to fish out the perpetrators.
“The APC abhors violence and other criminalities which sadly continue to plague our electioneering process. We urge partisans to see election as a democratic contest and not a do or die affair that we pay for with our lives. We pray that the culprits are caught and the full weight of the law is brought to bear on them.
