Godwin Otang
Following a leaked document from the Cross River State Police Command directing the commander of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) CSP Babayola Musa to send all their men to Cross River Northern Senatorial district on Saturday for election duty, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party has discredited the arrangement as the height of desperation by the APC, to rig the Saturday Polls.
In the document obtained by The Nigerian Tribune, the RRS Commander has been directed “You are directed to move all your men to Cross River North for election duty. You are further directed to engage on domination patrols, stop and search, carry out aggressive raids where necessary and when the circumstances warrant,” the document reads in parts.
The document has the official address of “COMPOL DFA Calabar and is dated thus “DTO 151530/03/2023”.
Other details contained in the document also indicate the caption of the document as, “INFO: DOPS CAL/ ACPOS/SANI DOKI/ACPOL SANUSI JIDDA/ACPOL BUKAR BABAGANA/ALL DPOs CROSS RIVER NORTH. CB: 4001/CRS/DFA/VOL.25/82”
Moreover, the directive urges the RRS to “cover all the local government areas in the northern senatorial zone, which include, Ogoja Yala Bekwarra and Obanliku Local Government Areas, all forms of violence and thuggery must be curtailed within the shortest possible time”.
However, the Publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in the stat, Mike Ojisi, has said that “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 intimidated by Ayade-led Rapid Response Squad, RSS, which he has armed tother 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 on October 4, 2020, and the Yala/Ogoja House of Representatives by-election held on February 27, 2023.
“We, therefore, call on the Commissioner of Police in charge of elections in the State, Garba Aliyu, and the IGP to dismantle this nefarious Squad that is out to compromise the Saturday elections in the north,” he stated.
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