Activist and National Youth Coordinator of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Austin Usman Okai, has accused the government of Kogi State, abetted by the Police, of planning to kill him.
Okai made the allegation in a statement issued on Thursday. According to him, vehicles in the state capital, Lokoja, were painstakingly searched anticipation of his presence at the Federal High Court, Lokoja, where he was to attend proceedings in a case.
The PDP National Youth Coordinator called on President Muhammadu Buhari and relevant authorities to call the state governor, Mr. Yahaya Bello, and his agents to order.
“I want to use this medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, caution Governor Bello of Kogi State because he is using every instrument available to him to intimidate and threaten my life,” he alleged.
A few days ago, the politician further claimed, persons disguised as police officers arrived his residence and made out as though they wanted to arrest him. Okai said he fled into the bush, where he spent the night.
“From all indications, they were errand boys from Kogi State because I overheard them saying in pidgin that ‘White Lion’ say make we kill am if we no fit kidnap am.’ White Lion is a nickname of Yahaya Bello. They threatened to shoot me if I refuse to open the door and I asked what my crime was? One of them replied me saying, “today is your last day on earth,” he said.
Scared, he said made his way through the ceiling and later escaped to the nearby bush.
“The attempts to eliminate me are becoming too frequent in and I call on the relevant authorities to prevail on the Government of Kogi State to stop branding me a criminal and allow me to exercise my civil rights to freedom of speech,” he claimed.
He also alleged that the state government has been using security agencies to arrest opposition figures, saying the state government has mandated Police authorities in Lokoja and Abuja to arrest or shoot him.
He advised the Kogi State Police Command against joining hands with the state government, which he alleged has deliberately refused to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners their entitlements.
He called on the state Police Commissioner to be neutral, saying his predecessor was “used and dumped”.
He claimed to be aware that the government is plotting to engage fake security agents to find him in Abuja and illegally detain him Comrade Okai was arrested in April on the orders of Mr. Bello and tortured before he was released on bail.
