Aides To Police DSS, AGF Drags Gov Ayade

Many indigenes and residents of Cross River State were on joyous mood
when the news broke that the Attorney General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami in response to petitions written
by well- meaning indigenes of the state has ordered investigation into
allegations of threats to bodily harm against the critics of the Cross
River State government.
According to one of the news reports published on Eyes Of Lagos

on October 24, 2017 with the title, “Aides To Police DSS, AGF Drags Gov Ayade”,
 the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the

Feder­ation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), has dragged the Cross River
State governor, Prof. Ben Ayade and some of his principal aides to the
Department of State Services (DSS), and the Force Headquarters over
allegations of threats of bodily harm to and assassination of his
political opponents in the state.
There are also sundry charges of corruption and abuse of office
levelled against the governor in the petitions.
Eyes Of Lagos gathered that,  a letter, referenced
HAGF/DSS/2017/Vol.1/15 from the Office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation, dated September 26, 2017 and titled: “Request for
Investigation” was directed to the Director-General of the DSS,
requesting the DSS to investigate petitions which the AGF’s office had
received, alleging that some top government officials, are
strategically planning to harm one Mr. Paul Ifere among other critics
of the state government.
A similar request letter, HAGF/IGP/207?VOL.1/17 was also on the same
date, addressed to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in his Abuja
office.
Sent along with the Office of the Attorney-General’s petition, which
was signed on behalf of the AGF by Okoi Obon-Obla, the Senior Special
Adviser (SSA) to the President on Prosecution, was a recorded compact
disc, which as the AGF office said, “captures the conversation between
the petitioner and a source within the Government House”, in Calabar,
who, based on the letter from the AGF’s office, “reported the
assassination plan of some indigenes of Cross River State that have
openly opposed the bad government policies in Cross River State.”
In light of these, the AGF requested the DSS and the Nigeria Police to
carry out a thorough investigation in order to ascertain the veracity
or other­wise of the allegations contained in the petitions.
As a concerned indigene of Cross River State we are watching with
trepidation the atmosphere of fear occasioned by political intolerance
in our state under the present leadership.
Due to fear of being killed, unlawfully jailed and injured by the agents of the present
administration, many are afraid of speaking out against the
maladministration and corruption in the PDP government in the state.
Only recently, Mr Paul Ifere was bodily harmed and unlawfully detained
for allegedly criticizing government policies on his Facebook wall.
It was common knowledge in Cross River that the state government
authorities connived with the police to ensure that he was detained
indefinitely.
It would be recalled that recently the Cross River State Commissioner
of Police, CP Hafiz Inuwa dragged Mr Ifere Paul to a Magistrate Court
1for what was allegedly a mere expression of his misgivings about the
spate of political killings, kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery and
other crimes in the state, that was unheard of a few years ago.
Meanwhile legal experts have kicked against taking Ifere Paul to a
Magistrate Court since the offence he allegedly committed cannot be
heard in such a court. They are insisting that it was a tactics by the
state government to detain him indefinitely. This is so sad.
Ifere Paul and several opponents of this government have lost their
businesses and their lives made unbearable for speaking out against
corruption and maladministration that are rampant in the present
administration. Similarly, it was reported that the Calabar City FM,
recently set up by Mr. Jeddi-Agba was shut down for no discernible
reason, while wagging tongues in the state widely claim that the
station was closed on the orders of the state government.
In a similar development, the owner of Hit FM in Calabar, Tony Ugbe,
was reportedly kidnapped a few months ago, raising allegations that he
might have suffered his fate on account of the regular attack of the
policies of the Ayade administration by the vibrant FM station.
Given the aforementioned challenges faced by the APC supporters and
other opponents of the Cross River State government, which has lead to
deaths and injuries, we are most grateful for the intervention of the
AGF on the deteriorating state of security in the state and the
assault on free speech and association.
We are also using this opportunity to call on our amiable President
Muhammadu Buhari to call the government of Cross River State to order.
We also reiterate our unalloyed support to the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari.

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