With just hours to the 2015 presidential election, officials of the Sokoto state command of the Department of State Security (DSS) have arrested some chieftains of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Sahara Reporters reported that those arrested include Alhaji Mu’azu Zabira, the chairman of the APC’s Security Committee, while the home of another APC chieftain, Alhaji Ummarun Kwabo, was raided, during which Alhaji Abubakar Kani was arrested.
No reason has been given for their arrest, even as their whereabouts are still unknown.
The state APC acting chairman, Alhaji Usman Suleiman Danmadamin Isah, who confirmed this to Sahara Reporters, revealed that arrests are one of the strategies of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to use force to seize power in the state.
Alhaji Isah further hinted that efforts were being made to secure the release of the men before the election.
Meanwhile, when the DSS director, Abubakar Bubuche, was contacted, he denied knowledge of the arrests.
The state police command spokesman, El-Mustapha Sani, who also denied the information when contacted, said they did not have a hand in the arrests.
It was reported that the state chapter of the PDP, in collaboration with the federal government, is alleged to have listed about nine APC chieftains in the state as well as some state government officials to be detained until the results of the elections are announced.
In a related development, Justice Rilwanu Aikawa of the Sokoto Federal High Court has restrained the EFCC, ICPC, the police and the NIA from arresting state government officials in relation to investigations of alleged cases of appropriation, disbursement and administration of monies appropriated between 2008 and 2014.
Premium Times reported on Friday that Kaduna state police also attempted to arrest several APC chieftains, including the governorship candidate, Nasir El-Rufai, the APC senatorial candidate for Kaduna North, Suleiman Hunkuyi, and a top campaign council official, Lawal Yakawada.
It was reported that the APC chieftains declined to honour the invitation, while their lawyers wrote to the police, informing them that the matter their clients were being invited for was already in court.
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