The Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, on Tuesday said the All Progressives Congress and its leadership should be held responsible for the series of violent attacks in the state.
Dankwambo declared that the statement credited to the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that he Dankwambo) was attacking the APC was “a false alarm”.
The governor, who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Yayari Mohammed, in Abuja, maintained that the APC’s claims that he (Dankwambo) was working hard to obliterate the APC presence and also victimize the party’s members in the state, were completely baseless and clear fabrication by the APC in an attempt to discredit and distract him and also overheat the polity and stall the wheel of progress in the state.
He claimed that since former Governor Danjuma Goje decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC, leaders of the APC in the state have “been orchestrating violence and causing confusion, all in an attempt to undermine and dislodge the PDP-led administration in the state”.
To buttress his claims, the Chief of staff said: “On Thursday, December 18, 2014, they (APC members) mobilized a team of political thugs who ambushed and attacked the convoy of Governor Dankwambo with dangerous weapons while on his way from a federal university located at Kashere, where he had gone for a visit on the invitation of the Vice Chancellor.
According to him: “The thugs, under directives, unleashed terror on the governor’s entourage, injuring some persons and destroying some vehicles in the convoy.
“Earlier, at the Kashere University, they had also instigated some hoodlums under their payroll to protest against the governor and disrupt the visit.”
Mohammed maintained that the APC leaders have been politicizing the visit by mischievously telling the youths, mostly from Kashere town, that the governor was planning to relocate the university to Gombe town, knowing fully well that a state governor has no power or control over the location or otherwise of a federal university.
According to him: “This mischievous fabrication created tension in the town before the arrival of the governor, hence the violence.
“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 a former governor.”
Mohammed further said that claims by the APC were “height of hypocrisy” aimed at deceiving Nigerians by playing the victims 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 antecedents 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 theatre of violence in frustration, arising from their dwindling popularity will be resisted by the people.”