Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The National Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Chief Peter Ameh, has cried out over alleged plot by some persons to stop his reelection bid by using the Police to arrest and detain him during the contest scheduled for Tuesday in Abuja.
Ameh, alleged that those who
were opposed to his being at the helm of affairs of IPAC had concluded plans to use their connections at the Police Headquarters in Abuja, to arrest and keep him incommunicado till after the conduct of the IPAC election.
Ameh, who addressed journalists at the weekend in Abuja, said that he decided to make his ordeal public because of his belief in justice and fair play as a condition for sustainable democracy.
He recounted an experience he had in the build-up to the elections into IPAC national executive in 2018, when he came under attacks almost immediately he indicated interest to run for the chairmanship position of the Council.
While raising the alarm over alleged plot to arrest and keep him out of circulation during the Tuesday IPAC election, Ameh expressed concern that the police who failed to act on the petition one year after had now extended invitations to him on three occasions between July 18 and August 23.
He said that was it not funny that the same police that could not resolve that matter or charge the case to court after one year, will now invite him to report on Monday, August 26 by 11am at the IGP Monitoring Unit FHQ Abuja.
According to him, “I want to cry to the whole world that this is political persecution by few cabals to use the police authorities to deny me my right to stand for the IPAC election slated for August 27, 2019″.
According to him, “my first encounter with the men of the Nigeria police came on the September 5, 2018 and that was their first attempt to arrest me without any prior notification or official invitation on the day of IPAC elections which was already in progress at the INEC Electoral Institute Hall, which I was a chairmanship contestant.”
He recalled that shortly after the IPAC election, in which he emerged winner, he got a notification via a text message from a phone number 08065928515 registered to Aminu Sokoto, an officer of the police attached to the IGP Monitoring Unit at police headquarters, Abuja.
According to him, he gladly as a law abiding citizen honoured the invitation five days after his election as IPAC National Chairman.
He said, “I gave my statement in respect of their enquiries about money spent during the tenure of Mr. Yunusha Tanko as IPAC National Chairman and I then Secretary between 2013-2015.
Dismissing allegation of fund misappropriation, Ameh said that the IPAC National Chairman in the period under review approved every expenditure he made.
He also said that the payments being questioned by the petitioner who incidentally was the one out of a council made up of 91 registered political parties on the said day were approved by the IPAC chairman at that time.
Ameh noted that the Political Parties Code of Conduct 2013, when himself and Yanusa were in charge at the Council, specifically mandated the chairperson to assign specific function to any member or officer of IPAC. He said the chairperson being a signatory to all bank accounts operated by IPAC; chairperson approved expenditure and financial commitment on behalf of IPAC.
Ameh said that as a Secretary, he was not a signatory to IPAC bank accounts, and wondered why he was singled out as subject of intimidation and embarrassment, particularly now that another IPAC election is schedule for this week Tuesday.
