Rerun: Military officers assault APGA candidate, others in Taraba
Jethro Yerga, Jalingo
The military officers deployed to secure the State Assembly rerun election of Karim Lamido 2 Constituency of Taraba State has assaulted the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance APGA and other residents at Angwam Maisamali 1 Unit in Gora, Andemi Ward of Karim Lamido Local Government Area.
The APGA Candidate, Hon. Anas Shuaibu who narrated the incident to our reporter alleged that himself and some of his supporters were beaten up by the officers who attacked him in one of the houses in the village.
Hon. Anas who led at the earlier election conducted in the constituency stated that he had rounded up his campaign around 10:00PM in the area and had decided to sleep in the village since he did not want to move in the night.
According to him, early in the morning, the military officers came and surrounded the room where he and some of his supporters had slept and asked them to come out. In the process, the officers ordered some of his supporters to squat down and the started trashing them immediately.
He said he had tried so hard to let them know that he was a candidate who decided to sleep there and move in day time but they refused to listen to him, rather they descended on him and hit him severally with a hard stick.
“Up till now am wondering what really call for such unfriendly reaction by the military officers. Am suspecting that some prominent people in the Area had directed them to act that way because their grand plan to imposed a candidate on my people does not show green light even before the election is concluded. Otherwise, my people and I did not do anything wrong.
“They had beaten up several people to the extent that one has been admitted in the hospital as I am talking to you. It’s my prayer that he recovers quick”. He added.
In an interaction with one Mr. Ibrahim Lawan who claimed that his father was the one admitted in the hospital following the torture by the officers, he stated that his father was coming out of his house when the officers intercepted him and beat him up mercilessly. He added that he and his brothers had decided to take him to the hospital when they discovered he would not survive the beating if he would not be treated.
However, when contacted, the Senior officer leading the troupe, K.E Egwuenyi debunked all the allegations explaining that they were been professional in the discharge of their responsibilities.
“When we came, we entered the area to take charge so as to have a free and fair election, we got a tip off that some youth were hiding in some of the houses within the area with weapons ready to disrupt the electoral process.
“We immediately comb the area and apprehended a Hilux van with some weapons inside. Uptill now, nobody has come to claim the Hilux. We chased out all the gangs who were in possession of various forms of charm to give room for a free and fair election. So we did not know about any other thing they are talking about. He stated.
At the time our reporter arrived at the scene of the incident, voters were in queue and voting was going on peacefully under tight security.
The rerun election which is been conducted in three polling units in the constituency was earlier declared inconclusive as a result of over voting and violence.
At the preliminary election, the APGA Candidate, Hon. Anas Shuaibu of APGA scored a total vote of 6860 votes. His clossest rival Hon. Bobbo Bendu of the PDP scored 6418 votes. Hon. Adamu Muhammed Kwanchi of APC 6077 votes while Hon. Tanko Bobbo Andemin of SDP has 4981 votes respectively.
As the people of Karim Lamido 2 await the final declaration of the election result, their prayers is that justice should be allowed to prevail so that they would have a member duly elected by them and not imposed on them.
