The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on security agencies to arrest Jamilu Gwamna, the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign coordinator in Gombe State, for allegedly issuing death threats to voters in Bolari West. According to reports, Gwamna warned parents that they would “lose their children” if they allowed their youths to vote for the PDP. More than 200 residents have signed a letter addressed to the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Nigerian Police Force, the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, demanding that the politician be detained.
Speaking to journalists at the Muhammad Jubrin Barde campaign office, Ayuba Aluke, spokesperson for the Gombe State PDP campaign management council, warned that such comments could jeopardise peace in the state. He said non‑APC supporters could be killed for holding different political views. “In Bolari West, Alhaji Jamilu Ishaku Gwamna made inciting remarks that threaten the life and security of the people,” Aluke said. “He openly threatened that anyone who votes for anyone other than his party, the APC, should ‘prepare his mother to give birth to another child.’”
Aluke urged the police, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and the Independent National Electoral Commission to intervene and take appropriate action, stressing that this would preserve sanity in the state. He appealed to PDP supporters not to fear coming out to vote and to help remove a government that has held them back.
The PDP governorship candidate, Muhammad Jubrin Barde, has “digitised politics,” according to Aluke, and intends to pursue legal means rather than the violence that has traditionally characterised politics in the state. “During our campaign visits to 114 wards, nobody was hurt or threatened; we conducted the entire process peacefully,” he added.
Aluke also condemned the removal of checkpoints across the state, describing it as a ploy to give the governor’s alleged thugs unrestricted access. “This directive shows that it is merely a scheme to clear the way for the governor’s political thugs—‘OPERATION ACI KO TA BARE!’—to intimidate voters and unleash terror before, during, and after the elections without security intervention,” he said. He warned that this would allow the thugs to move freely to any polling unit, rig, disrupt and sabotage the governorship election, thereby undermining the will of the electorate and hindering the governor’s failing re‑election bid.
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