By Aaron Ossai
Member of the House of Representatives and All Progressives Congress, APC candidate for Taraba South Senatorial District, Hon. Danjuma Chiri has accused the State Governor, Darius Ishaku of using intimidation and harassment to muscle the opposition because “he has become unpopular among the electorate.”
Hon. Chiri who is going head-to-head with the incumbent governor in the race for the Taraba South Senatorial seat decried the manner in which the governor is deploying State apparatus to hound and persecute APC supporters in Southern Taraba with a view to making the political space uncomfortable for the opposition.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja at the weekend, the lawmaker cried out that democracy is currently in danger in the state stating that three APC stalwarts are currently languishing in jail on trumped-up charges orchestrated by governor-Ishaku led PDP.
“I want to say today that democracy is about to somersault in Taraba. Governor Ishaku Darius has been so impatient with the opposition and is assaulting democracy in Taraba, particularly southern Taraba. And to us he is testing the waters. And if he goes scot free in what he is doing, we don’t know what we would do as the election approaches.
“As I speak today, my campaign DG, Dantani Danazumi Meshach is still under detention in prison. After the bail was reviewed, the Magistrate Court granted him bail. The High Court issued another warrant again for his custody for charges that were political.
“They called my DG a lot of names, comparing him to Gana in Benue, and there are no records to show where he kidnapped, killed or did anything wrong anywhere. This same fellow assisted them, was working for them and he won election in 2019 and now because he does not work for them, he has become a bad person.
“He did not stop there, as I speak again today, my Local Government coordinator of Wukari, the coordinator of our governorship aspirant, Ibrahim Danji Jibatswen and the party chairman of the LG, Isa Ma’aji Shekarau Masa-ibi are in prison. They were summoned to the court some few days ago and were taken to police custody and later to prison. For the singular fact they reported to the police…because there was an attempt to attack us during the coronation of the two traditional rulers in Takum and Donga and Wuakari”, he stated.
He expressed dismay at the seeming travesty of justice being perpetrated against the APC in the state, using law enforcement and the judiciary that’s supposed to be the last hope of the common man. He wondered why the governor would resort to intimidation and harassment if truly he’s popular among the people like himself (Chiri) to win the election.
“We don’t know what will happen next again. We are being intimidated all over. And all these are geared towards the 2023 election. If he knows that he is grounded, why is he afraid of opposition? If you know you are on ground, why use state powers and resources to muzzle up opposition”, he lamented further.
He therefore called on President Muhammadu Bujari to use his good office to intervene in the matter before it escalates the more.
