By Abba Muhammad, Dutse
Police in Jigawa state yesterday threw several canisters of tear gas to disperse members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for holding rally in Gumel Local Government Area of the state for allegedly holding campaign rally without police approval.
Members of the Jigawa state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party had gathered in Gumel Local Government to flag off zonal campaign for the 2019 general election.
Speaking to newsmen, the Jigawa North West Vice Chairman and former Commissioner of Information,AlhajiBabandiGumel, said the party wrote to the Commissioner of Police seeking permission 48hours before the campaign which he granted formally.
“It was today in morning that the Commissioner of Police called our Chairman, Committee on Security for the 2019 election campaign notifying him that we have to cancel our rally because he realized that it was a market day which was not possibly.
“And for over 20 years, it is our tradition to hold rallies on the same day and in history we have never recorded any act of violence.
“Over 150,000 members have been mobilized for the rally from across the state who have arrived for the occasion, so there is no way you can stop them because they have already started coming.
“It’s quite unfortunate when we came to the venue and discovered that police have already seized the area and teargas our members.
“The same provisions of the Constitution that led to the appointment of Inspector General of Police, election of President Muhammad Buhari and Jigawa state governor also give us the right to campaign for the 2019 general election, so there is no basis for denying us our Constitutional right”, he said.
He therefore accused the All Progressives Congress, APC for masterminding the issue and threatened to drag the party and state Commissioner of police to Court.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO in the state, CSP Abdu Jinjiri said he has not been briefed on the issue and promised to get back to the press latter.
