JUST IN: Saraki Slams Idris-led Police…Says Conniving With APC To Attack PDP Members

The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has slammed security agencies in the country, especially the police, over their alleged connivance with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to attack members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Saraki, who took to his verified Twitter account on Friday to berate the security agencies, accused the IGP Ibrahim Idris-led police of showing ‘‘undisguised hostility’’ against him and his supporters in Kwara State by allegedly conspiring with APC supporters to ‘‘undermine my personal security and that of my immediate and larger family.’’

The Senate President had briefed journalists during a press conference he summoned at the Legacy House in the state.

He said, ‘‘I just briefed Pressmen at Legacy House about the sad development in my home state, Kwara State, and the role of the security agencies in giving cover to people who are unleashing violence on our people.

‘‘The APC in Kwara State are surprised and cannot understand how and why the people continue to give massive and overwhelming support to the PDP across the state.

‘‘The police have continued to show undisguised hostility to me and my supporters in Kwara State and this latest round of violence is part of efforts to jeopardise and undermine my personal security and that of my immediate and larger family.

‘‘Three incidents will illustrate what I am saying to you…

‘‘1. Yesterday, after the APC concluded their campaign in Ilorin, some of their supporters and thugs moved around town and in areas like Adewole/Adeta, Ile Otan and Ubandawaki/Pakata where they saw our people gathered holding their weekly ward meetings…they disrupted the meetings by shouting their party slogan and when our people responded by mentioning our own slogan, they fired gun shots into their midst in Adewole/Adeta.

‘‘The APC supporters also inflicted matchete cuts on some of our supporters. As a result of this attack, two people suffered bullet wounds.

‘‘2. Yesterday, these same APC thugs shielded by policemen went to my family quarters in Agbaji, Ilorin, and vandalized houses, shops and inflicted wounds with matchete on three people.

‘‘All this destruction took place in the presence of policemen who came with the thugs. The officers simply watched as the APC thugs and supporters unleashed violence on our people.

‘‘The decision to attack people and properties in my family ancestral compound is a direct affront and attack on my person. Whatever signal these APC elements with the support from the police believe they are sending is definitely sinister and uncivilized.

‘‘Our people have filed reports of the incidents in relevant police stations in Ilorin but we have doubts that anything tangible and constructive will come out of these reports.

‘‘3. The same Police under the directive of Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Kpotum Idris yesterday commenced the transfer of Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) out of Kwara State.

‘‘While the police are free to take decisions on the deployment of their personnel, we found the postings in Kwara State strange and more than a mere coincidence.

‘‘It should also be noted that IGP has posted three different Commissioners of Police to Kwara State in the last six months. In fact, the previous and current Commissioner of Police in the State got strict instructions from the IGP not to relate or engage with the Senate President

‘‘The usual practice has been that the Commissioner of Police personally ensures the security of the Senate President whenever he visits his home state. That was the practice during the period of my predecessor and in my first year in office.

‘‘We need to make it clear to the entire world that now that ward to ward campaigns are about to begin in the state and I am set to participate in that grassroots campaign as I have always done, nobody is sure what instructions Mr. Idris has given to the police command in Kwara.

‘‘Therefore, the whole world should hold the IGP responsible if anything untoward happens to members of my family and myself.

‘‘Do not forget that before now, this same IGP has tried several tricks to implicate me in some criminal charges. First, he arrested some cultists and was about to compel them to claim that they worked for me until the media pointed out holes in his story.

‘‘Later, he went on to the Offa robbery case and politicized the investigation in order to rope me in. In the process of forcing suspects to implicate me, the principal suspect died in their custody. He has also not succeeded with that plot.

‘‘Who knows what else the IGP may have planned? Now, that the campaigns season is fully underway, which requires my going round, I want the world to hold the IGP personally responsible if anything happens to me.

‘‘It is important for Nigerians and members of the international community to note that this IGP, Idris Ibrahim does not believe that his job is to protect the lives and properties of all Nigerians, irrespective of political, religious and cultural beliefs.

‘‘A situation where political thugs and operatives attack opponents of the APC under the watch and protection of law enforcement agents does not present Nigeria well in the comity of nations.’’