A campaign rally of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sadique Abubakar, has become a place of war.
The event held in Duguri town on Wednesday, March 8 resulted in the death of an individual and left about 15 people injured.
There injuries were from gunshots and machete attacks.
Before of the gubernatorial and state assembly elections, seven out of nine candidates for governorship met at the Bauchi State Police Headquarters and signed a peace deal.
But that deal appears to be only in paper.
The incident, which occurred just before 6 o’clock in the evening, happened just five hours after that meeting.
At a news conference on Wednesday held at the Media Unit of Government House in Bauchi, at 11.50:00PM, the Director-General of the Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council, Farouk Mustapha, accused the APC and its candidate of being behind the attack.
He claimed that Abubakar, the recently retired Chief of the Air Staff, organised thugs from his camp and party to terrorise the governor’s relatives and destroy PDP billboards.
Farouk Mustapha Statement On The Attack
“Today is one of the most tragic days in Bauchi State’s political history.
“As is customary during election seasons, every candidate for governor from the state’s major political parties was present at the State Police Headquarters with representatives from all the security organisations to sign a peace agreement.
“The APC candidate, however, disregarded the peace and harmony that should rule in Bauchi State by being noticeably absent, with only his deputy there.
“To our dismay, while the candidates were signing the peace accord, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, took a campaign tour to Duguri town, the hometown of His Excellency, Senator Bala Mohammed, who doubles as the sitting governor and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the forthcoming election.
“His gang leaders who led today’s thuggery, unleashed terror, intimidation on the people of Duguri town.
“They were chanting abuses and breaking all PDP billboards carrying His Excellency’s pictures, buses and even Keke NAPEP and the office of the PDP were all burnt down.
People Also Read: APC Appoints 12 Senior Advocate To Defend Tinubu In Court
“This barbaric act was resisted by the people of Duguri led by the thugs and even the armed security men to open fire on the unarmed and innocent people of Duguri.
“They left several people injured and killed one Mallam Mai Ungwan Shata through a gunshot and also macheted others, about 15 of them, who sustained different degrees of injuries, and they are right now at the Teaching Hospital here in Bauchi.”
APC Responds To The Accusation
In response, the APC Campaign spokesperson, Salisu Barau, accused the PDP of recruiting thugs who fired at the APC governorship candidate’s campaign team, in Duguri the birthplace of the incumbent Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed.
“According to eyewitnesses, sounds of sporadic shootings were heard around the premises where the campaign lecture was being held, which made the security operatives at the venue rush to the scene of the shootings.
“In an attempt to disarm the thugs and retrieve the guns from them, three people were shot.
“One is a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps personnel, one from a vigilance group and the other from the hunters union.
“However, the NSCDC operatives succeeded in recovering two dane guns from the thugs while others escaped with their own guns.”
Meanwhile, the police have confirmed the incident.
The spokesman for the police in Bauchi, Ahmed Wakil, said no fatalities had been reported.
According to him, just 14 individuals sustained injury in varying severity.
