By Ismail Auwal
Barely less than 48 hours to presidential election the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of intimidating its members and carrying out raids on its campaign offices in the state.
Briefing reporters on the development, the party state chairman, Umar Doguwa, lamented that their youth and mobilisation directorates along Airport Road in Nasarawa Council of Kano State were shut by men of the Department of State Services (DSS) secret security for reasons yet unknown to them.
He said, “Three days to elections, men of the DSS in Kano have laid siege to the campaign office of the NNPP. The offices of the Directors of Support Groups and that of the Director of Youth Mobilisation were cordoned off by them.
“We write to draw the attention of the Director General of DSS to call his Command in Kano to order. Going to our offices to plant weapons with the intention of framing our campaign directors can neither change the result of the election nor can it change the mind of millions of our supporters.”
The party, therefore, called on the Federal Government, National Security Adviser (NSA), Minister of Defence, DSS Director General, Inspector General of Police, European Union Election Observation Mission, British High Commission in Nigeria and United States Embassy in Nigeria for urgent action.
But the secret police, in a swift reaction, said it had been neutral in carrying out its duties and had offered all political parties equal opportunities, saying it only retrieved dangerous weapons from campaign offices of some politicians.
The allegation by the NNPP, a leading opposition party in the state, came just a few days after the party accused the police leadership in the state of working with the state government to harass and arrest its members.
But when contacted, the spokesman of the DSS, Peter Afunanya, said that its personnel only retrieved dangerous weapons like guns, swords, daggers and jackknives, among others, from some politicians.
Afunanya shared some pictures of dangerous weapons including clubs, cutlasses and guns said to have been recovered from the property with one of our correspondents via WhatsApp.
He said, “The property was searched with a warrant. This is not a true account of what happened. The DSS in Kano didn’t intimidate any political party in that state.
“The service is neutral and has offered all the parties equal opportunities to carry out their activities.”
