Political parties under attack from each other
Issues of alleged attacks have rested particularly within the PDP and between it and the main opposition party in the state, the CPC which is trying to wrestle power from the former. Members of the PDP including its leadership in the state have repeatedly referred to the CPC as a violent party, while those of […]
Issues of alleged attacks have rested particularly within the PDP and between it and the main opposition party in the state, the CPC which is trying to wrestle power from the former. Members of the PDP including its leadership in the state have repeatedly referred to the CPC as a violent party, while those of the CPC have always blamed alleged attacks on them on the PDP.
First, the internal attacks within the PDP marked the entire period of the primary elections, beginning with the contentious ward congresses across the state. The ward congresses began on a note of violence, when youths in large numbers laid siege on the party secretariat in Lafia and snatched and destroyed election materials, as they also prevented officials from leaving the place to commence the exercise in the various local government areas. The party chairman, Chief Yunana Iliya was held hostage for hours while the violent attack on the secretariat lasted, but armed policemen and soldiers only acted within the premises of the office, to protect the officials, while youths hurled stones from different directions.
Some places were able to witness the congresses, but they did not do so without widespread violence within. One particular incident was the attack on an elder and chieftain of the party Alhaji Baba Rabi who was held by angry youths who stripped him naked and beaten. Another was the attack on the Information Minister, Labaran Maku who was stopped from entering Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Guest House, venue of the State Assembly primaries in his area. Protesting youths barricaded his convoy, preventing him from gaining access into the venue of the exercise. Truckloads of armed security men including policemen were there, but did nothing.
The primary elections in Keffi where former governor, Abdullahi Adamu picked the ticket against a serving senator, Abubakar Danso Sodangi, recorded a death at Marmara, a sleepy town along Nasarawa town as supporters of the two who were returning from the event engaged in a gun battle, killing a man who was standing by the roadside.
“This portends grave danger for political development in our state, and it exposes the level of intolerance among politicians and their supporters,” said Barrister Lagi Innocent, a leading opposition voice in the state and member of the State Assembly. He condemned the violence, appealing to members of the political class to be sportsmanlike to accommodate the views and aspiration of their opponents.
In Benue State, two political parties, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have been on each other’s throats in a quest to capture power ahead of the April polls. It is no longer news that the two parties are accusing each other of attacking their members.
The state chairman of ACN, Comrade Abba Yaro at a recent news conference in Makurdi accused the PDP of intimidation and attacks on members of the party. He alleged that PDP thugs had attacked Iiamkase Ikyereve, Sesugh Aker Ichigh and Iorfa Iortswam in Kwande Local Government Area who went to lodge a complaint to the District Head over removal of ACN posters in the area.
The party further alleged that apart from attempts to kidnap the ACN governorship candidate in the State, Prof. Steve Ugba, the ACN Benue South Senatorial candidate, Gen. Lawrence Onoja and Abubakar Usman, running mate to Prof. Ugba, were attacked at various points at Otukpo, the heart of Idomaland.
A chieftain of CAN, Adoka Adaji has condemned the recent attack on Onoja’s aide, the Late Emmanuel Ajibo who was murdered at his Ibadan Street residence, Otukpo, by unknown gunmen. He cautioned against politics of violence hoping that security agents would unmask those behind the assassination.
The Director-General, Ugba Gubernatorial Campaign Organization, Prof. David Iornem lamented over the spate of political violence in the state. He said at a news conference that the ACN song composer Mr. Barnabas Aganyi is missing. The party believes his disappearance is connected to the songs he made that are considered anti-PDP. He argued that if the trend was left unchecked, it would affect next month’s poll as people would be voting under duress.
Similarly, the Benue State PDP Campaign Team has condemned the murder of Terngu Taver, a PDP supporter of Mbatem Tse-Agberagba Ward in Konshisha Local Government Area by thugs suspected to be from the ACN in the area. The party alleged that late Taver was first shot with a gun and then severally macheted to death on the 19th of March, just after midnight in his compound in Tse-Agberagba.
In a press statement signed by Mr. Bem Dzoho who is the Campaign Secretary to the Director-General of the Benue State PDP Campaign Team, Dr. Terhemba Shija, described the act as barbaric and primitive.
The Director-General noted that in spite of the persistent provocation by the ACN, the PDP is advised throughout Benue State not to retaliate in any way.
Also, Governor Gabriel Suswam has accused ACN in Benue State of engaging in wide range of violent activities in its continued desperation to destabilize the state and possibly mar the forthcoming elections. He said the attackers from the ACN had on 18th March, 2011 unleash terror on District Head of Mbagbam in Vandeikya Local Government, Tyoor Augustine Aule in his palace and made away with his official car, a Nissan Pathfinder Sport Utility Vehicle and some cash.
Dr. Cletus Akwaya, Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, also accused a member of the House of Representatives who is candidate of ACN for Katsina-Ala, Ukum and Logo Federal Constituency, Mr. David Mzenda Iho of leading a group of ACN supporters to attack Okada riders at Mchia for their refusal to lead his campaign motorcade on a road show to herald his arrival in Logo local government.
A political analyst at Makurdi, Dr. Benjamin Tyowa, decried the violence being perpetrated by politicians as barbaric. He said if the security agencies fail to arrest circle of violence it will portend danger for the stability of the country. He however pointed out that the April polls would be bloody if security agents take sides with a particular party.
In Bauchi, as the election date draws closer, politicians in the state complain of threats to their lives and attacks on their supporters and candidates. Speaking with Weekly Trust, the National Director of Publicity of the ANPP’s Comrade Sabo Mohammed stated that: “Political thugs attacked Alhaji Abdullahi Dauda, the Deputy Director Publicity to Senator Suleiman Nazif Gamawa, the state’s ANPP gubernatorial candidate and injured him. He said: “The attackers didn’t attack him until they identified him as the personal assistant to the ANPP gubernatorial candidate, and they had attacked the residence of the former Bauchi State Commissioner of Youth and Sports, Alhaji Salisu Zakari and destroyed several properties.
Special Adviser on media to the ACN gubernatorial candidate Nasiru Ibrahim Darazo alleged that “The campaign train of our gubernatorial candidate, Senator Baba Tela was attacked in Giade when they went for a campaign visit. One person was killed, seven people were injured and five vehicles were burnt to ashes. We are holding PDP thugs sponsored by the Bauchi State government responsible.”
In their reactions, Special Adviser to Governor Isa Yuguda, Abdulmumini Mohammed Kundak and state Publicity Secretary of PDP Sani Al’amin Mohammed said: “All their allegations are baseless, not true. They just want to blackmail the party and the government using the name of politics thinking that doing so will enable them to get the sympathy and support of the people.”
In Katsina, claims of campaign violence by the PDP and the CPC has heightened fear of violent polls in the state ahead the forthcoming 2011 general elections. Already, Katsina State governor Ibrahim Shema is presently in court against his major opponent and opposition CPC gubernatorial candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke accusing him and some of his supporters for ambushing the governor’s convoy and destroying their vehicle while on their way home from an electioneering campaign.
The state governor responded by initiating a series of arrests where his rival was detained for two days, something which deepened the rivalry and further stoked the embers of political violence in the state. A few weeks after, the PDP in the state accused the CPC of chopping off the hand of one of their supporters, Nafiu Ayuba in Nasarawar Kwabo, Dan Musa Local Government simply because he demonstrated his support for the PDP while the CPC were campaigning in the area.
The acting National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Bello Halliru visited the victim at Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, where he called on the police to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the brutal attack on their party supporter. Weekly Trust gathered that the CPC Senatorial candidate in Katsina, Ahmed Sani Stores, in whose electioneering campaign the attack took place has been taken to a magistrate court and charged for perpetrating violence.
Sabo Musa Hassan, a PDP stalwart in the state, accused the CPC of instigating violence even when Governor Shema conducted his electioneering campaign in the 34 Local government areas of the state without hurting anyone.
This claim was dismissed by the Publicity Secretary of the CPC in Katsina State, Ali Abu Gidado who accused the PDP instead of institutionalizing thuggery in the state, starting from the 2007 election that held in the state.
Gidado accused the PDP of making a vow to crush anybody who stands in the way of their re-election campaign and described the CPC’s gubernatorial candidate as the greatest victim of the governor’s thuggery, citing the manner he was attacked and arrested recently.
An immediate-past state Commissioner of Agriculture in Katsina, Alhaji Abdul’aiziz Mamman described the political violence in the state as an expression of dissent by the youths to the failure of the political leaders to address the issue of job creation and employment over the years. He said the situation calls for concern in that if care is not taken the same youths will be used by unscrupulous politicians who pay them to try and manipulate elections thereby rubbishing the country’s quest for free, fair and credible elections.
In Akwa Ibom, a bloody fracas between the supporters of the PDP and the ACN led to the deaths of supporters from both sides and an allegations from the governor of the state Godswill Akpabio of the PDP that supporters of the ACN chopped off the private parts of four PDP members and destroyed over 800 brand-new cars and 500 tricycles. The Akwa Ibom ACN chairman, Mr Aniekan Akpan said in the defense of his party that the aides of the governor planned and attacked its members. The case of Ogun State saw the ACN gubernatorial candidate in the state Ibikunle Amosun attacked during a recent campaign rally. The ACN claimed the attack was orchestrated by the PDP. The office of the Road Transport Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and the PDP secretariat in Sabo-Ilaro was vandalized during the fracas that later ensued. The governorship candidate of the PDP in the state Chief Adetunji Amosun described as false that he masterminded the violent attack on the campaign train of the ACN.
In Ondo State, a man was killed in the clash between supporters of the Labour Party (LP) and the ACN. Three ACN supporters were injured during the violence. An ACN candidate for the state House of Assembly Olatunji Oshati said he narrowly escaped death. The LP denied being the ones behind the violence. Eye witnesses said about ten other persons were injured during the clash. Then in Osun State, the ACN has accused the PDP in the state of stockpiling arms to destabilize the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. The PDP had denied the claims. Tensions between the supporters of both parties remain high nevertheless. The list goes on.
General concern is on the authorities and security forces to brace up to the present challenges by holding offenders responsible for their actions, so the elections could be conducted peacefully.