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Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto
As the Supreme Court readies to hear the appeal brought before it by the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 Governorship elections, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, on Monday, the Police in Sokoto State says that it has deployed no fewer than 1,000 personnel.
Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Kaoje, who disclosed this to our Daily Sun in Sokoto on Sunday said that the measure was to keep the peace before and after the hearing.
Our correspondent gathered that a notice signed by Ibrahim Gold, Director/HoD, Litigation, dated 10th January, said that the appeal will be listed for hearing before the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Monday, 13th January.
Kaoje said that particular attention was being focussed on the Sokoto metropolis and its environs, as well as on strategic locations within their vicinities.
“We are on a 24-hour red alert and we are on standby, round the clock, 24/7. We will not waiver in our sustained routine and surprise tactics to keep the peace,” said the Commissioner.
“We will leave no stone unturned in keeping the state safe and secure for all the law-abiding residents to conduct their lawful businesses.
“The strategy would be maintained until further notice in line with the recent directive issued by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) on a 24-hour, nationwide red alert.
“The massive deployment of our officers and men has, by the special grace of God, paid off and we will not relent in our efforts. This is to ward off any unpatriotic persons from breaching the peace, as well as the unrepentant criminals,” he added.
Most residents who spoke to Daily Sun say they are anxiously waiting for the apex court’s verdict in order to end the month-long political tension between the two major parties.
“Our expectations is that the D-day will come and go without any further political uprisings. The citizens in Sokoto are law-abiding and we pray political elites will not disrupt our peace,” said resident Musa Danladi.
The APC in the state and its governorship candidate had dragged Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) before the Supreme Court over his re-election .
Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, the APC candidate, is challenging the judgements of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and that of the Appeal Court that all dismissed his petitions for lack of merit.
Earlier, the Tribunal and Appeal Courts had dismissed the APC petition for lacking in merit on the 2nd of October and 22 of November, 2019, respectively.
A four-member panel of justices of the Court of Appeal Court, Sokoto Division, in their unanimous judgement read by presiding justice Husseini Mukhtar, agreed that the petition filed by the APC and its governorship candidate challenging the victory of Governor Tambuwal as upheld by the Tribunal was lacking in merit.
