The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force is investigating comments made on a local talk show wherein a caller allegedly living in the United States of America, openly made terrorist threats against Nigerians living in St. Kitts who may choose to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming democratic elections. The investigation also includes seeking the help of external allies, as the caller intimated that he was from the United States.
All persons are hereby advised that such actions and threats constitute a criminal offense and persons making such statements will be prosecuted. Media houses and hosts should use their best efforts to ensure that their outlets are not used as a conduit to facilitate criminal behaviour. The general public is asked to cease and desist from expressing words or taking actions that amount to incitement to cause injury to persons for politically motivated reasons.
The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force is prepared to defend all citizens and residents on the day of election. Those who choose to interfere with the democratic process through force or intimidation will be dealt with within the confines of the law.
No citizen or resident, in fact no voter legally exercising his or her right to vote, regardless of place of origin, has anything to fear on election day.
The above press release was issued by the PRO of the Police Force on Friday 30 January.
Meanwhile the station which facilitated the call from a local who lives in the USA, said on its website on Monday that
“While the police did not name the station involved, the incident occurred on WINN FM 98.9 on Thursday January 8, when the station’s protocol for blocking offensive language was breached.
An overseas based caller while explaining that he lived abroad for decades and would not vote in St. Kitts and Nevis elections then went on to decry people voting where they ought not to and questioned whether Nigerians and other non-nationals should be allowed to vote in the next general election in the Federation.
He then proceeded to issue death threats on air but was not cut off until close to two minutes after his tirade. The host apologized to listeners saying he was distracted and should have stopped the caller as the station does not condone that type of conduct. Disciplinary action was taken against the individuals involved. The technical operator was suspended from duty for not deploying the delay button within his reach and the host of the program accepted that he too was at fault and after some discussion he too was suspended from the show.”