The New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, has alleged continued harassment and attempts to arrest the Director-General, Media and Publicity to the Kano State Government, Mallam Sanusi Dawakin-Tofa.
In a statement on Wednesday, the NNPP National Publicity Secretary, Ladipo Johnson said Police authorities “as apparently mandated from Abuja, were still making spirited efforts to arrest Sanusi Dawakin-Tofa despite a court injunction restraining the Nigeria Police from carrying out such arrest.”
Johnson clarified that “the repeated attempts to arrest Dawakin-Tofa, which have also bordered on the possible harassment of members of his family, was in connection with a petition purportedly written against him by a former Kano State Governor and National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, or persons acting for him.”
The NNPP spokesman decried the action of the Police, “saying it was an affront on the rule of law and a crass abuse of power. He added that Sanusi has since been forced into hiding as a measure to hedge against his unlawful arrest.
“As the general public can see, the situation in Kano is now degenerating into a free fall with such abuse of power, intimidation and harassment of officials of the state government. The situation is really bad and unfortunate. And this I dare say, from a party selling a fallacy to Nigerians that it will attract foreign investors to the country. Pray tell, how many investors will come into a society where there is a flagrant abuse of the rule of law by an institution meant to uphold the law?
“Since there is a court injunction restraining the Police, further attempts to arrest Sanusi cast a terrible slur on the image of the Nigeria Police, a sad reminder of similar actions and posturing regarding the regrettable power game in Kano over the Emirs saga till date. Maybe somewhere along the way, the ruling party will realize how much the leadership of their party may have damaged their “brand”, especially in Northern Nigeria”.
NNPP called on the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun Ph.D, a renowned professional, “to ensure that the Police as an institution resists the dangerous slide into partisan politics and to restrain his men from further harassment and intimidation of Sanusi, whom, it’s stated, has his fundamental human rights protected under the law and should be respected”.
