The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa State has rescheduled its campaign flag off for the 2023 general elections because of the refusal of the police to grant approval.
The party had fixed Monday, November 28, to begin their campaign in Toto Local Government Area, but had to reschedule to Tuesday, November 29, 2022.
The State PDP Chairman, Francis Orogu, at a press conference on Friday in Karu Local Government Area, said that the party had sought and gotten approval from the Police to hold the rally on November 28, in Toto LGA, but while arrangements were being concluded for the event, the party got a letter from the Commissioner of Police, Maiyaki Mohammed-Baba, on Friday, that the rally would not be allowed to hold.
According to Orogu, “He said he was informed by the Toto Local Government chairman that he is not aware of our coming.
“This is laughable, and to us, democratically mischievous because we know that the Commissioner of Police knows that the chairman of a local government has no space under the Electoral Act to be informed and secure permission to campaign in his local government.”
The State chairman siad that the PDP was the first to make its campaign schedule known and wondered why the All Progressives Congress (APC) was insisting on starting their campaign from the same local government area on the same day.
The chairman noted that PDP had initially slated Nov. 26, to start its electioneering campaign in the state but had to shift it to Nov. 28, when they heard APC plans to begin same day, “only to be told now that the new date is also not feasible after spending resources and time preparing for the event.”
Also, Labaran Maku, Director-General of PDP Campaign Council in the state, expressed deep disappointment over the development and called for absolute neutrality from security agencies.
“It is strange that 48 hours to go to our campaign rally, we suddenly received this letter despite the fact that our party was the first to notify the police of our campaign schedule,” he said.
Maku said that after consultations the leaders of the party and the campaign council had agreed to reschedule the party’s campaign flag off in Toto Local Government Area to November 29.
“We are giving the Nigeria Police Force the benefit of the doubt that we are law abiding but we hope the remaining schedule will not be disrupted.
“We appeal to our supporters especially those in Toto to be law abiding in spite of what has happened,” Maku said.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nasarawa State Command, DSP Ramhan Nansel, refuted the allegation that the police had directed the PDP to stop plans for its campaign flag off rally in Toto LGA on Nov. 28.
He said that there was a clash of date and location with the APC and CP Mohammed-Baba only advised the PDP to shift its rally to the next day in order to avert clashes among supporters, and to adequately provide security to both parties for their campaign rallies.
“So, it is for the sake of providing adequate security for the two political parties that the police advised PDP to shift theirs to the next day. It is not as if they were outrightly stopped or prevented,” he said.