BEVERLY HILLS, December 24, (THEWILL) – The Gombe State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the State Government Tuesday accused a former governor of the state and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Senator Danjuma Goje, of instigating the ongoing violence in the state, alleging that the APC leader in the state was behind the recent attack on Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo.
The accusation was made at a joint media briefing organised by the party and the state government on the ongoing violence in the state.
In a speech read at the briefing, the Chief Of Staff, Government House, Gombe, Alh. Ahmed Yayari Mohammed, said “at the weekend, the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) raised a false alarm on violence against the PDP state government in Gombe led by Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.”
According to Yayari Mohammed, “The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a statement on Saturday, December 20, 2014 accused Governor Dankwambo of working hard to obliterate the APC presence and also victimise the party’s members in the state.
“This allegation is completely baseless and clear fabrication by the APC in an attempt to discredit and distract the hard working and humble Governor Dankwambo, overheat the polity and stall the wheel of progress in the state.”
Explaining that the briefing was called to put the record straight away from what the APC was saying, the Gombe Chief of Staff alleged that since Goje left the PDP, he has been orchestrating violence and causing confusion, all in an attempt to undermine and dislodge the PDP-led administration in the state.
According to him, “On Thursday, December 18th 2014, Senator Goje mobilised a team of political thugs who ambushed and attacked the convoy of Governor Dankwambo with dangerous weapons while the governor was on his way from a federal university located at Kashere where he had gone for a visit on the invitation of the Vice Chancellor.
“The thugs under the directives of Senator Goje unleashed terror on the governor’s entourage, injuring some persons and destroying some vehicles in the convoy.”
“Earlier, at the Kashere University, Senator Goje had also instigated some hoodlums under his payroll to protest against the governor and disrupt the visit.”
“Senator Goje had in politicising the visit, mischievously told the youths mostly from Kashere town that the Governor was planning to relocate the university to Gombe town, knowing full well, as a former governor and former federal minister, that a state governor has no power or control over the location or otherwise of a federal university.”
Yayari Mohammed maintained that “This mischievous fabrication by Goje created tension in the town before the arrival of the governor, hence the violence.”
According to him, “Following the attack on the governor, the police and other security agencies swung into action and arrested 18 persons, 12 of whom were released after interrogation. Six have been taken to court while many other wanted persons are on the run. It is interesting that three of the arrested persons are relations of the wife of Senator Goje.”
He described APC’s action as the height of hypocrisy, saying APC has been trying to deceive Nigerians by playing the victim when they are the real aggressors.
He said “To avoid a continuation of the this evil machination of the APC, we hereby call on the Inspector General of Police and other relevant security agencies to carry out a thorough investigation on the attack with a view to exposing the sponsors and bringing them to book.”
“We also want to draw the attention of the police and the leadership of the APC to a compilation by a non–governmental organization called Movement for The Restoration of Political Sanity in Gombe State, articulating the antecedents of Senator Goje on violence as well as a dossier of the victims.”
“We wish to state that all efforts by the APC in their heinous plan to turn Gombe into a theater of violence in frustration, arising from their dwindling popularity will be resisted by the people.”
He maintained that “despite the evil agenda of Senator Goje and his APC cohorts, majority of well-meaning people of Gombe State remain solidly behind the PDP and Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo and are assiduously working to demonstrate this at the 2015 general elections.”
