Kogi West PDP Rallies Behind Melaye, Demands His Immediate Release

Kogi West Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the security
agencies to release Senator Dino Melaye, who is representing the
senatorial zone, without further delay.

The call came after an
emergency meeting held at the Iyah-Gbede residence of General David
Jemibewon (rtd.) to review the “unabated intimidation” of the senator.

In
a statement signed by Taiwo Kola-Ojo, the chairman, Kogi West PDP vowed
to return Melaye to the senate, whether he is allowed to campaign or
not, just the same way his recall exercise was killed by the people, his
incapacitation during the period notwithstanding.

It asked
the people of the district to resist the wickedness of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and vote massively for Melaye.

The
party described the ordeal of their senator since he left APC as “one of
the dubious tactics against the PDP across the country,” adding that
“it is medicine after death.”

It observed that the senator’s incarceration was a deliberate strategy to cripple his re-election campaign.

The
statement read in part: “The occupation of the residence, inhuman
evacuation and the ultimate incarceration of Senator Dino Melaye by the
Nigerian police in cahoots with the APC governments at the national
level and Kogi State is cowardly, retrogressive, repressive and
persecuted.”

It noted that any breach of the law should not be
condoned when such had been proved, stressing the need to accord
appropriate respect to Senator Melaye against whom no offence had been
proved.

Calling for the immediate release of Melaye and the
unconditional withdrawal of all frivolous charges for which he is being
tried in about seven courts in Abuja and Lokoja, the party said that
Melaye’s tenure brought more democracy dividends to Kogi West than Kogi
State and councils in the area.

It expressed satisfaction with the representation of Melaye.

Worried
by the various manipulative activities of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), as shown by the controversial role assigned
to Amina Zakari, President Buhari’s sister, the controversy surrounding
incident forms and card readers, as well as the sudden alarm raised by
the governors of Katsina, Borno and Zamfara states, the party enjoined
the people to put on their full consciousness to check the rigging plans
of APC.

The meeting called on the people of Kogi to turn out
massively to receive Atiku Abubakar, who would be on a campaign visit to
the state soon.