Police summons on Benue ACN chieftains: ‘Count Gov Suswam out’

It is an insult on the police for anybody to insinuate that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is taking orders from a state governor, Special Adviser to the Benue State Governor on Media and Public Affairs, Dr. Cletus Akwaya, has said.

Akwaya who was reacting to allegations by the defeated ACN governorship candidate in the state, Professor Stephen Ugba, that the state Governor, Suswam, masterminded the Police invitation on chieftains of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the State said: “Count Governor Suswam out of the invitation of ACN chieftains by the police.”

According to Akwaya, the ACN’s resort to blackmail and mischief against the governor in the wake of the recent killing of its member was unacceptable, stressing that the party must be held responsible for the breakdown of law and order in the state on account of the numerous threats its defeated governorship candidate has been dishing out.

“The ACN has politicized the killing of Mr. Ayede Charles by unknown gunmen. Professor Ugba from all accounts of eye witnesses was not attacked; neither was he at the scene of the incidence. But he has politicised the incident to paint Governor Suswam black”, Akwaya said.

While urging the defeated ACN governorship candidate in the State, Professor Stephen Ugbah and his party to either accept their defeat or wait for the outcome of their petition at the tribunal, Akwaya said the result to blackmail and mischief was unacceptable.

The post election political bad blood in Benue state took a dramatic dimension at the weekend the Nigeria Police Force summoned the ACN governorship candidate in the April 26 poll in the State, Professor Stephen Ugbah, Senator George Akume and a former Minister of Steel, Paul Unongo.

Ugba who accused the Police for acting on the instructions of Governor Suswam said it was not right to use state security apparatus to intimidate political opponents.

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