Most of us that trooped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe state during the 2015 election are not happy with the current happenings in the party. We need to speak out so that the world could recognize the dangerous precedents being set by some of our leaders.
The recent ward, local government and state congresses have come and gone, but it has shown that instead of propagating change, our great party is going from bad to worse. It is hard to understand the rationale for the spate of violence and thuggery that characterized the congresses.
If in a local election within our party people would be killed, it means either we are afraid of internal democracy or our leaders are taking APC to the dark days of thuggery and violence.
The former Gombe state governor seemed to have supported miscreants and members of the APC with violent tendencies. I wonder what example the former governor of Gombe wants to hand down to we the young ones by intimidating loyal party members that are not in his camp with heavily armed police and soldiers and bragging that the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police attached them to him on the orders of the President! He poses around in Gombe like a war lord bragging to embolden his kalare thugs to terrorise people including the local police.
Again before the violence in Deba erupted, Senator Goje, the former governor, allegedly called and warned the police officers not arrest the armed political thugs. What this means is that thuggery and criminality would soon become a common occurrence.
The young man that was killed, Salisu Daje from Daje Ward, is 36 years old and has two wives and children. Salisu is a hard working APC member and some of us are worried that his friends may decide to retaliate, including the many others that were injured and receiving treatment at Deba Specialist Hospital.
Why on earth did the police not arrest the notorious killers? I want Nigerians to know that the major cause of the crises in Gombe state chapter of APC was that Senator Danjuma Goje insisted on imposing all the candidates, thereby denying bona fide members their rights to vote the candidates of their choice.
We are afraid that things may get worse in the days to come because of all these high handedness and open encouragement and support for violence. This is because another clash happened in Gombe Local Government between Goje’s group and other APC members, only that this time the fracas was allegedly caused by the chairman of Gombe Local Government chapter of the APC, Hon. Ibrahim Musa Bakas.
We the youths suspect that the senator is also backing another violent politician in the person of Dan Barde for the governorship, so that together they would make the party and state their personal property by using his kalare thugs, his usual instrument of intimidation and terror.
These victims who are receiving treatment at Deba General hospital should be protected so that they would be alive to tell the story of how a some henchmen tried to butcher them for no just cause, except that they want to exercise their right as members of APC.
These men, Abdullahi Umar (Boto), Abdullahi Puma, Shehu Dadamna and many others, know who their assailants were and who prevented the police from making arrests.
I want to call on the leader of our great party, APC, President Muhammadu Buhari, to call Senator Goje to order before he brings the party and the presidency to disrepute. The President should ask the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Kpotun Idris and the Chief of Army Staff why they should allocate police and army officers to the senator, with which he has been terrorizing ordinary members of APC. I think the police and the soldiers are needed more in other parts of the country to check the menace of kidnappers and killer herdsmen.
Further more Baba Buhari should find out if the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff actually directed the release of the security officers to him and on whose directive. If no, then who effected the illegal release of the officers? They should also direct the immediate arrest of the officers and all those involved in the scam to face disciplinary measures. We all know that Goje is an ordinary senator. He is not even one of the principal officers of the Senate. Surely, it will be very surprising if Baba Buhari with his zero tolerance to corruption and indiscipline will direct the posting of policemen and soldiers to a man with a known history of brigandage for which Baba Buhari himself was his one time victim.
It’s on record that, when Goje was the governor of Gombe state, he disallowed Buhari from using the airport and the stadium for campaign rallies in 2007 and 2011 by using political thugs to block the entrances. Nothing is farther from the truth, Goje is still holding grudges against President Buhari, since 2011 when Buhari stated that he would try all corrupt politicians as he Goje has several EFCC cases on his neck.
If what happened during the recent ward, local government and state congresses is anything to go by then, it is obvious that Senator Goje wants to drag APC in Gombe back to the dark days of criminality and unremitting violence, which was the vogue during his tenure as governor of the state 2003 to 2011.
When we formed APC we never expected that a day would come when party men would turn against each other to press for their political interest.
The next stage in the ongoing fight for supremacy in the party could be the governorship primary and if the ongoing effort to impose Dan Barde succeeds, members of Gombe APC may abandon the party for these bloodsuckers.
Ahmad writes from Gombe
Goje taking APC to days of Kalare thuggery? By Musa Ahmad
Most of us that trooped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe state during the 2015 election are not happy with the current happenings in the party. We need to speak out so that the world could recognize the dangerous precedents being set by some of our leaders.
The recent ward, local government and state congresses have come and gone, but it has shown that instead of propagating change, our great party is going from bad to worse. It is hard to understand the rationale for the spate of violence and thuggery that characterized the congresses.
If in a local election within our party people would be killed, it means either we are afraid of internal democracy or our leaders are taking APC to the dark days of thuggery and violence.
The former Gombe state governor seemed to have supported miscreants and members of the APC with violent tendencies. I wonder what example the former governor of Gombe wants to hand down to we the young ones by intimidating loyal party members that are not in his camp with heavily armed police and soldiers and bragging that the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police attached them to him on the orders of the President! He poses around in Gombe like a war lord bragging to embolden his kalare thugs to terrorise people including the local police.
Again before the violence in Deba erupted, Senator Goje, the former governor, allegedly called and warned the police officers not arrest the armed political thugs. What this means is that thuggery and criminality would soon become a common occurrence.
The young man that was killed, Salisu Daje from Daje Ward, is 36 years old and has two wives and children. Salisu is a hard working APC member and some of us are worried that his friends may decide to retaliate, including the many others that were injured and receiving treatment at Deba Specialist Hospital.
Why on earth did the police not arrest the notorious killers? I want Nigerians to know that the major cause of the crises in Gombe state chapter of APC was that Senator Danjuma Goje insisted on imposing all the candidates, thereby denying bona fide members their rights to vote the candidates of their choice.
We are afraid that things may get worse in the days to come because of all these high handedness and open encouragement and support for violence. This is because another clash happened in Gombe Local Government between Goje’s group and other APC members, only that this time the fracas was allegedly caused by the chairman of Gombe Local Government chapter of the APC, Hon. Ibrahim Musa Bakas.
We the youths suspect that the senator is also backing another violent politician in the person of Dan Barde for the governorship, so that together they would make the party and state their personal property by using his kalare thugs, his usual instrument of intimidation and terror.
These victims who are receiving treatment at Deba General hospital should be protected so that they would be alive to tell the story of how a some henchmen tried to butcher them for no just cause, except that they want to exercise their right as members of APC.
These men, Abdullahi Umar (Boto), Abdullahi Puma, Shehu Dadamna and many others, know who their assailants were and who prevented the police from making arrests.
I want to call on the leader of our great party, APC, President Muhammadu Buhari, to call Senator Goje to order before he brings the party and the presidency to disrepute. The President should ask the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Kpotun Idris and the Chief of Army Staff why they should allocate police and army officers to the senator, with which he has been terrorizing ordinary members of APC. I think the police and the soldiers are needed more in other parts of the country to check the menace of kidnappers and killer herdsmen.
Further more Baba Buhari should find out if the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff actually directed the release of the security officers to him and on whose directive. If no, then who effected the illegal release of the officers? They should also direct the immediate arrest of the officers and all those involved in the scam to face disciplinary measures. We all know that Goje is an ordinary senator. He is not even one of the principal officers of the Senate. Surely, it will be very surprising if Baba Buhari with his zero tolerance to corruption and indiscipline will direct the posting of policemen and soldiers to a man with a known history of brigandage for which Baba Buhari himself was his one time victim.
It’s on record that, when Goje was the governor of Gombe state, he disallowed Buhari from using the airport and the stadium for campaign rallies in 2007 and 2011 by using political thugs to block the entrances. Nothing is farther from the truth, Goje is still holding grudges against President Buhari, since 2011 when Buhari stated that he would try all corrupt politicians as he Goje has several EFCC cases on his neck.
If what happened during the recent ward, local government and state congresses is anything to go by then, it is obvious that Senator Goje wants to drag APC in Gombe back to the dark days of criminality and unremitting violence, which was the vogue during his tenure as governor of the state 2003 to 2011.
When we formed APC we never expected that a day would come when party men would turn against each other to press for their political interest.
The next stage in the ongoing fight for supremacy in the party could be the governorship primary and if the ongoing effort to impose Dan Barde succeeds, members of Gombe APC may abandon the party for these bloodsuckers.
Ahmad writes from Gombe
