Barely four days to the general elections in Nigeria, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in Kogi central senatorial district, Natasha Akpoti, has petitioned the United Nations over the activities of the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, and his appointees.
Others affected by the petition to the global body were Chief of Staff to the governor, Edward Onoja and the Director-General Media and publicity, Kingsley Fanwo
The petition signed by the Director-General Natasha Campaign Organisation, Mohammed Sadiq, accused the Kogi state governor and his aides of continuous vituperation on Natasha Akpoti.
According to the organisation, Akpoti remained the candidate to beat in the senatorial election in Kogi Central and as such her rising profile and popularity among the people of Kogi central has become a source of concern and nightmare to the Bello led administration who has vowed to use violence and intimidation to suppress her in the forthcoming election.
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According to the petition, it is on record that the state government sponsored attacks on Natasha Akpoti’s supporters, killing and maiming them, destroying her political billboards and illegally arresting and detaining her teeming supporters while the security agencies in the state look away despite her various petitions to the leadership of security agencies in the state and the federal government of Nigeria.
It further alleged that, after failing to stop the rising profile of the SDP candidate, agents of the state government resorted to blackmail, making offensive and derogatory comments about her personality to tarnish her image and influence the people to turn against her.
The petition disclosed that Onoja went to the facebook page of Natasha Akpoti and openly used a derogatory comment on her.
On the same vein, the spokesperson of the governor, Fanwo made derogatory comments on her on the instruction of the governor and the administrator of Okehi local government, Abdulraheem Ohiare calling Natasha “bastard and a prostitute”.
The petition called on the office of United Nations, women wing to switch to the defense of Akpoti and draw the attention of the federal government to her plight and that of young women in Nigeria who have been abused serially for standing for their constitutional rights.
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