Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the Taraba South senatorial district, Hon. Usman Dauda Shiddi, has accused the state governor, Darius Ishaku of using intimidation and harassment against opposition.
Shiddi who is a serving member of the House of Representatives is challenging the incumbent governor in the senatorial race, decried the manner in which the governor is deploying state apparatus to persecute APC supporters in Southern Taraba with a view to making the political space uncomfortable for opposition.
“I want to say today that democracy is about to somersault in Taraba. Governor Ishaku Darius has been so impatient with the opposition and is assaulting democracy in Taraba, particularly, the southern Taraba. And to us, he is testing the waters. And if he goes scotfree in what he is doing, we do know what we would do as the election approaches.
“As I speak today, my campaign DG, Dantani Danazumi Meshach is still under detention in prison. After the bail was reviewed, the magistrate court granted him bail. The high court issued another warrant again for his custody for charges that were political.
“They called my DG a lot of names, comparing him to Ghana in Benue, and there are no records to show where he kidnapped, killed or did anything wrong anywhere. This same fellow, assisted them, was working for them and he won election in 2019 and now because he does not work for them, he has become a bad person.
“He did not stop there, as I speak again today, my LG coordinator of Wukari, the coordinator of our governorship aspirant, Ibrahim Danji Jibatswen and the party chairman of the LG, Isa Ma’aji Shekarau Masa-ibi are in prison today.
“They were summoned to the court some few days ago and were taken to police custody and later to prison. For the singular fact they reported to the police…because there was an attempt to attack us during the coronation of the two traditional rulers in Takum and Donga and Wuakari.”