The All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party differed on Wednesday over attacks on the convoy of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, by suspected thugs in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Several vehicles were vandalised during the attack which the PDP Presidential campaign spokesperson, Senator Dino Melaye, blamed on the APC.
However, the Director of Media and Publicity for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, said the attack could be the result of the in-fighting in the Borno State chapter of the PDP, insisting that the APC had no hand in the violence.
Though no loss of life was immediately reported, Melaye claimed that 70 persons were hospitalised and dozens of vehicles vandalised.
Our correspondent reports that the miscreants stoned Atiku’s convoy while on its way to the palace of Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai Alkanemi, to pay homage, sparking apprehension in the state.
Scores of persons were reportedly injured when the hoodlums pelted the convoy with stones, sticks and other weapons.
However, the state police command denied the attack, adding that it arrested one Danladi Abbas who attempted to disrupt the rally.
Shortly after Atiku and his team left Maiduguri, a fire service vehicle and water tankers were sighted spraying water on the tarred road leading to the Shehu’s palace while hundreds of APC supporters swept the road in a symbolic gesture indicating their rejection of the PDP presidential candidate and his entourage.
Atiku’s campaign train had come under similar attack during a rally in Kaduna on October 17, a few days after thugs attacked the supporters of the party in Zamfara State leading to the death of at least one person, while several others were injured.
Concerned by the trends, the Independent National Electoral Commission had warned that incidences of physical attacks on party supporters and destruction of campaign materials across the country are worrisome and a violation of the Electoral Act.
Speaking on the violence, Melaye explained that the APC deployed the hoodlums to prevent the PDP’s campaign in the state, adding that their convoy was pelted with stones, sticks, machetes as they left the Shehu of Borno’s Palace to the Ramat Square, the venue of the PDP presidential rally, all in an attempt to frustrate the programme.
He lamented that the thugs were deployed in many strategic locations ‘’but we want to assure them that nobody can stop us.’’
Confirming the attack, the Borno State PDP Chairman, Zanna Gaddama said, ‘’It is true that some miscreants from the APC attacked Atiku’s convoy along the road from the airport to Shehu’s palace.
“They attacked at three locations – one after (Jagwal) cellphone market, another around one of the roundabouts on the road and by the House of Sir Kashim Ibrahim (the governor of the defunct Northern Region) just before the Shehu’s palace.’’
The party boss further explained that injured party supporters were taken to the hospital for medical attention.
“We will write to the police to complain about what happened so they can investigate and bring the culprits to book,” he stated.
