Gunmen abduct Kogi PDP chairman

TRACKING >CHAIRMAN of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State, Musa Adelabu, was on Saturday abducted by gunmen in military uniform.

A source, who spoke with TRACKNEWS said Adelabu was abducted by gunmen who invaded his residence and whisked him away in the early hours of Saturday.

According to the source, the gunmen numbering five shot sporadically into the air to scare people in the area when they arrived his residence, adding that the whereabouts of the PDP chairman were still unknown.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned that no amount of threats, harassment and attempts to intimidate its members and supporters by “compromised security agents” will deter it from standing together in victory, with the people of Kogi state in the November 16 Governorship election.

In a statement issued in Abuja by Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary, the party posited that the people of Kogi state have already made up their minds to vote out the All Progressives Congress (APC), “which has only brought excruciating poverty, deprivation, suicide, wanton looting, impunity and total disregard to the wellbeing of citizens; and nothing can detract from the people’s resolve to free their state from the oppressive clutches of the APC.”

The PDP alerted Nigerians to how gunmen dressed in military uniform have been invading homes of PDP members, including the chairman of Okene LGA chapter of the party, Musa Adelabu, who the gunmen abducted to an unknown destination.

Similarly, it said only three days ago, another vocal member of the PDP in Kogi State, Abdlu-salam Kunaye, was picked up in a similar manner.

The statement added: “The PDP has information that the assailants were sponsored and detailed by desperate elements in APC that have become frenetic over the overwhelming rejection of their party in Kogi state.

“The APC is aware that it has already lost grounds in Kogi state, following its woeful performance in the last four years under the out-going Governor Yahaya Bello, and as such, it is seeking ways to muscle its way by manipulations, harassment, coercing and bullying, which will be resolutely resisted by the people of Kogi State.”

“Our party has also been made aware of how a long list of Kogi citizens and PDP supporters has been submitted to certain compromised security agents and urges the Police and military high command to take steps to curb the situation.

“The PDP, in an unequivocal terms, states that it stands with the people of Kogi state in firm resistance to any heinous plot by the APC to prevent the people from voting them out in November.”

It therefore demanded the immediate release of our Okene LGA Chairman and all those abducted, as their incarceration is already raising tension capable of sparking serious consequences.

“The people of Kogi state are looking up to the PDP to rescue the state from tyranny and nothing can stop them from achieving their resolve of voting in the PDP, which is their party of choice, in the November 16 governorship election,” the statement declared.

However, the Kogi State chapter of the party has raised the alarm over the abduction.

The party, in a statement by its spokesperson, Bode Ogunmola, disclosed that the wherabouts of the the PDP chieftain were still unknown even as he charged security agencies to intesify efforts to secure his release.

He added the PDP was worried about the suddden disappearance of Adelabu, insisting that if there were reasons to arrest the PDP chieftain, an invitation would have been appropriate rather than an invasion in a commando style.