The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State, Alh Sani Abubakar Danladi, on Monday signed a peace accord ahead of the general elections. The exercise is coming days after his campaign train was allegedly attacked and he narrowly escaped assassination.
Danladi said that he was present on the occasion to sign the peace accord because he believes in the police to keep their words and the peace agreement as they had done in the past. But he accused the police in Wukari area for not responding promptly while he suffered a rough patch in the hands of bandits last Thursday.
He challenged people associating him with violence to come out with any evidence and urged the security agencies in the state to owe up and arrest him if he was found wanting at any time.
“I believe there would be justice in this signing because I believe in the security. People are linking me with violence and I urge the security to challenge me if I am found wanting at any point at all.
“If the police fail to do justice as we witnessed in Wukari during my ordeal, it would be very bad. The DPO in Wukari claimed that he was not aware of our coming after we had written to the Commissioner of Police in the state and got his approval.”
The Commissioner of Police in the state, David Akinremi, assured the candidate that the command would investigate the case in detail and ensure that whoever was found wanting would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
Akinremi who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of administration, Aliyu Sale Tafida, said that the peace accord was intended “to give us assurance that the process of the election would be peaceful and devoid of violence and thuggery. On our part, we assure that we would dispense our duty without fear or favour.
“Adherence to the rules of the game is the most important thing and we hope that those who have signed this (accord) would stick to the tenets of the agreement. We will handle the DPO because he cannot claim that he was not aware of your coming. We would do what is necessary and those found wanting would be brought to justice.”
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alh Abba Baba Yusuf, said that the commission was assured that the elections would be normal as Taraba INEC was committed to providing a level-playing field for everyone in the state.