12th January, 2015
Jamiu Yisa & Eromosele Ebhomele
Despite the pledges made by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that they will prevail on their supporters to avoid engaging in violent acts during the general elections, political thugs suspected to be the parties’ supporters are already spilling blood in some parts of Nigeria.
The PDP had vowed that it would run a campaign devoid of statements capable of inflaming passions and overheating the polity, while the APC promised to conduct an issue-based campaign, which will focus on how to lift Nigerians out of poverty to prosperity.
However, since the beginning of this year, cases of politically motivated attacks have been reported in some states of the federation. It got worse in the last one week after supporters of both parties unleashed mayhem on one another, bombed party secretariat or set campaign vehicles ablaze.
The latest violent attacks started when some supporters of the APC in Rivers State were shot last week on their way to attend their party’s presidential campaign flag-off in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Also, an office belonging to the APC in Okrika, the hometown of Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience Jonathan, in Rivers State, was bombed on Sunday, while President Jonathan’s Campaign vehicles were burnt in Jos. Also, there are reports that PDP properties have been destroyed in Gombe State.
It was gathered that at least seven supporters of APC were shot last Wednesday by suspected political thugs who ambushed them on their way to the flag-off of the presidential campaign of the party’s candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), held at the Chief Adokiye Amieyesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt.
P. M.NEWS learnt that the vehicle conveying the APC supporters from Kana Local Government Area ran into an ambush laid by some suspected political thugs, who opened fire on the bus, and in the process wounded six persons, including women.
Some gunmen who laid ambush on Trans-Kalabari Road for the APC supporters also shot at three other persons.
The Rivers State PDP in a counter-accusation, alleged that the APC killed two of its members in two separate incidents in the state.
PDP in a statement in Port Harcourt on Saturday alleged that APC members last Friday shot and killed two its members, Hope George and Friday Mbadee Onura.
According to the statement issued on behalf of the PDP State Chairman, Felix Obuah, by his Special Adviser, Jerry Needam, “members of the APC opened fire on a vehicle which had the member representing Ogu/Bolo in the House of Representatives, Bright Tamuno Gogo; Rivers State House of Assembly candidate, Datorudimabo Adams and the immediate past councillor of Okrika Local Government Council, Hope George as occupants.
“Hope George died, while others, including Hon. Bright Gogo, sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds and are receiving treatment in the hospital,” Obuah said, adding that the victims were on their way to attend the governorship rally of the PDP in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State when they were attacked.
According to him, “about same time on Friday, January 9, members of Eleme Local Government Area chapter of the APC, led by Isaac Obee, shot and killed PDP stalwart, Friday Mbadee Onura, while others are in critical condition in various hospitals following gunshot wounds they sustained during the attack.”
On Friday, some angry youths attacked and burnt a campaign bus branded with President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign posters at Zololo junction, Bauchi road in Jos, Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The attack occurred as PDP supporters in the state were said to be converging on the Hiapang Airport to receive the gubernatorial candidate of the party, Gyang Pwajok, who was returning from Lagos after receiving his flag last Thursday.
It was gathered that the incident occurred in the presence of members of the Special Taskforce on Jos crisis, STF, who could not foil the action of the youth.
An eyewitness, whose car was also burnt by the rampaging youths, said another PDP-branded car was also set alight.
The incident has generated tension within Jos metropolis.
Two days after Jonathan’s Campaign Organisation vehicles were set ablaze in Jos, property belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party in Gombe State were reportedly burnt down.
The incident occurred in Gona Village of Akko Local Government Area.
A source said a convoy of the APC governorship candidate, Inuwa Yahya, instigated the violence in which the PDP office, two vehicles and several shops were burnt.
According to the source, “the APC candidate was on his way to Billiri town for a rally and his convoy suddenly stopped in the town and some of the youth in the convoy began to destroy the billboards of Governor Dankwambo and other PDP property.”
The spokesperson of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo, Junaidu Abubakar, confirmed that property belonging to the party and the governor were destroyed.
“In their quest to destroy the billboards of the governor and burn PDP office, people’s shops were also burnt down completely,” Mr. Abubakar said.
He also said the incident caused serious panic in the town because residents thought they were under attack from members of the Boko Haram sect.
“Many people began running into the bush thinking that Boko Haram are attacking them,” he said.
However, the secretary of the APC in Gombe State, Umar Mohammed, alleged that the attack was instigated by PDP members.
“We were on our way to Billiri to receive decampees and as usual advanced party were asked to move ahead of the candidate’s convoy,” he said.
“PDP members then blocked the road in Gona and refused to allow our members passage which led to a fight between them.
“One of our members was even seriously wounded with a knife and is currently in hospital receiving treatment.”
He said even after the programme in Billiri, words reached the APC that PDP supporters in Gona were armed and ready to ambush them on their way to Gombe.
“When we heard what happened, we had to divert through Deba to go back to Gombe,” he said.
The APC secretary also said the residence of the governorship candidate was attacked three days ago by hoodlums suspected to be PDP supporters.
“They destroyed about five vehicles and injured one of his police security detail who is still receiving treatment,” he said.
The spokesperson of the Nigerian Police in Gombe, Fwaje Atajiri, denied knowledge of the development when contacted, adding that the police command is not aware of any of the incidents.
Also on Sunday, some unknown arsonists bombed APC secretariat in Abam Ama, Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, the home town of First lady Mrs. Patience Jonathan.
An eye witness account revealed that the arsonists invaded the party secretariat in the early hours of Sunday with an improvised device suspected to be dynamite which they threw into the one storey building.
It was gathered that the explosives shattered part of the building including the office of the party chairman while valuable documents were destroyed.
The Chairman of Okrika chapter of APC, Christian Asifamaka who confirmed the incident to reporters, said that in the early hours of Sunday January, 11, 2015, some unidentified persons threw dynamite into the party secretariat, adding that the explosion occurred at 3:14am destroying it and bringing down the walls.
“The damage was quite extensive with the Chairman’s office being the worst hit. The APC viewed this latest attack as a deliberate provocation by our opponents, the PDP to draw the APC into a battle that would destablize our beloved LGA. This is unfortunate and APC in Okrika would not allow Okrika to become a hotbed of crises as the PDP would wish.”
“We are Okrika people and we know what political crisis has cost our people in the past. Our LGA has always been the worst hit in times of politics. Our young children are the ones they use as a cannon fodder. We know this and as a party have resolved to toe only the path of peace in the interest of our land and our children,” he said.
He accused PDP of being the mastermind of the attack, stressing that “PDP’s resort to violence is because they know that Okrika people have rejected them because of their inability to attract any meaningful development to the LGA.”
He called on Mrs. Patience Jonathan who hails from Okrika to call the members of PDP in the area to order, adding that “Okrika land has never spared any Okrika person who brings trouble to the land or destroy ourselves. We beg our daughter, Mrs Jonathan to please call her people in the PDP to order because OKrika is bigger than anyone of us and we should not destroy it.”
The incident was confirmed by the Rivers State police command’s spokesman DSP Almad Muhammed.
He said the command has commenced investigation to unravel the circumstances behind the attack.
As these were going on, the camps of the two leading presidential candidates continued to trade words over who is responsible for what.
President Jonathan, who is flying the banner of the PDP urged Buhari to call his supporters to order on the grounds that suspected APC supporters burnt two of his campaign buses, saying that the action was a sign of desperation on the part of the opposition party.
However, the Buhari Campaign Organisation has distanced itself from the allegation, saying that the incident in Jos was caused by PDP’s rigged primaries.
Meanwhile, APC has raised the alarm over the safety of its National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, and his family after his residence in Abuja was allegedly raided in the early hours of Monday by unidentified gunmen.
The incident, according to the party, occurred barely 24 hours after the party’s secretariat in Okrika, the hometown of Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, in Rivers State was bombed by yet to be identified people.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said while hoping that a police investigation would unravel what happened, it is either those who attacked the residence at 1.30 am are robbers or assassins.
It said while Chief Oyegun was away attending a previously unscheduled meeting in Abuja, the invaders struck, and his wife, who was at home, was left deeply traumatized by the raid.
“The facts of the raid as available so far point to a sinister motive. For example, only Chief Oyegun’s room was ransacked in the whole house.
“Common sense dictates that if the invaders were robbers, they would have ransacked the whole house in search of money and other valuables which they might have believed were in the residence
“The invaders, two burly men, removed the window burglar bars to gain access to the residence from the back, and then made straight for the bedroom of our National Chairman.
“Police security was in place at the residence when the incident happened,” APC said.
The party said while it does not know who was behind the raid, “it is worth noting that the angry rhetoric and vitriolic personality attacks that have been directed at the opposition by the top leadership of the ruling PDP and their spokesmen have heightened tension and put the lives of opposition politicians at risk, ahead of the forthcoming elections.”
Meanwhile, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, is visiting Nigeria as concerns continue to mount ahead of the February general elections in the country.