A Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and all security agencies from arresting the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate, Alhaji Murtala Ajaka.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the court order was made on Thursday following a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Ajaka.
In the suit, Ajaka alleged that his life was in danger and that he had been receiving threats from the government.
The court, in its ruling, held that it found merit in Ajaka’s application and issued an order restraining the respondents from arresting, inviting, detaining, or threatening Ajaka’s life and property.
The court order came following the petition by human rights activist Chief Femi Falana, SAN, urging the Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, to demobilise “armed thugs and killer squads” operating in Kogi state.
Falana, SAN, alleged that the thugs were empowered to intimidate and unleash terror on perceived political enemies. He accused Governor Bello of using both state and non-state actors to harass Ajaka and his supporters in a bid to ensure that his cousin would emerge as his successor.
He said: “Thus, without any legal justification, our client has become a victim of unwarranted harassment, intimidation and cheap blackmail.
“For instance, while on a thank you tour of the state on the 3rd day of June 2023, our client was attacked along with his team of supporters at about 12.30 pm after visiting the palace of His Royal Highness, the Ohimege of Koton-Karfi.
“The dastardly attack took place while our client and his supporters were returning to Lokoja around the Banda Nataco Axis. Our Client’s convoy was attacked by armed gun men who were dressed in police uniform in official vehicles of the Kogi State Government.
“Life bullets were sporadically fired directly at our client with the sole intent to assassinate him. While our client was lucky, some of his supporters were seriously injured and were rushed to the hospital where they were treated for different degrees of bullet wounds.
“As a follow up to this incident, our client petitioned the Commissioner of Police in Kogi State and requested that the matter be investigated but rather than carry out an investigation of the said incident, our client is now being hunted around Abuja by the State Governor.
“He has dispatched a team of police officers to arrest our client and forcefully take him to Lokoja on trumped up charges of terrorism and treasonable felony,” Falana stated in his petition.
He urged the IGP to investigate the matter and “direct the immediate demobilization of all armed thugs and killer squads set up by the State Government to intimidate the perceived political opponents” of the governor.
The Yahaya Bello-led state government has, however, denied the allegations, saying that it does not consider the SDP candidate as a serious contender in the coming election.
“We know the contenders and the pretenders and he is not a political threat as far as Kogi State is concerned,” said the state’s Commissioner for Information and Communication, Kinsley Fanwo.
