16th March, 2011
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has cried out against rising intimidation of the opposition in Kwara State, which has now taken a new turn with the involvement of not just the state government but some federal civil servants who have chosen to wear the toga of partisanship and lead the campaign of the PDP in the state.
In a statement issued in Ilorin on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said a top official of a federal para military parastatal has been instigating and financing thugs to destroy ACN billboards and posters in the Irepodun local government area of the state.
”This federal government official, who hails from the local government, sponsored the destruction of ACN billboards and posters in the area overnight Tuesday/Wednesday because the PDP governorship candidate in Kwara state will be visiting his homestead today (Wednesday).
”We have reported this brazen and irresponsible act by a serving government official to the police and will also be sending a petition to his employers shortly. While we acknowledge the right of the official to hold whatever political belief he likes, he should first resign his official position before practising partisan politics,” ACN said.
The party said the federal civil servant and others like him are no doubt taking a cue from the state government, which has embarked on harassing and intimidating the opposition as an official campaign strategy, having realised the unpopularity of its governorship candidate.
”It is common knowledge that government-sponsored thugs, many of them wielding assorted weapons, have wilfully uprooted and destroyed the ACN governorship candidate’s billboards and defaced his posters across the state.
”We join all right thinking and decent people in condemning this crude strategy to browbeat the opposition, and urge the good people of Kwara state to send a clear message to these purveyors of violence that their types are not wanted in state administration,” ACN said
