Police Operatives sealed off the NNPP secretariat with their Armoured Personnel Carrier vehicle parked at the entrance.
By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
Heavily armed police operatives from the Borno State Command on Thursday sealed off the state secretariat office of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) located along Abbaganaram Customs Road, Maiduguri.
In the course of the raid, the police also arrested the NNPP senatorial candidate for Borno Central, Alhaji Attom Magira.
The incident comes barely few days to the official visit of the Presidential Candidate of NNPP, Senator Rabiu Kwankeoso to Maiduguri, the state capital.
Speaking to newsmen in Maiduguri, the party gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Umar Alkali said ” they sealed our party’s state Secretariat this morning, and bundled our Borno Central Senatorial Candidate and took him to the police headquarters.”
“When we get there , we saw a letter saying that our office is in a residential area. We wondered because some few metres away from our office is an APC office which has not been sealed.”
Alhaji Alkali said “we cannot be intimidate by the sealing of our office, we cannot be deterred by this, we are determining to wrest power from the APC come 2023 general elections by the grace of God”.
He said “i was a former APC gubernatorial aspirant, they know my capacity, I left APC because APC in Borno is one man show, he assumed himself the position of God, he decides who became a messenger “
“The APC is intimidated by the presence of the NNPP in the state, because PDP is an appendage of the APC in Borno state and they believe with the coming of our presidential candidate and party leader , Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso APC will definitely intimidate the.more”, he added.
Also speaking, the State Chairman of the NNPP, Barrister Mohammed Mustapha accused the APC of using the police to sealed their office in the name of locating office in residential area.
He said: “We woke up this, morning to see our state office sealed up by the police alleging that we are located in residential area and I wondered, our office is located few kilometers away APC’s office, we can’t be intimidated by this, our presidential candidate is coming this Saturday. The days of APC in Borno is numbered.
Lamenting his ordeals, the NNPP senatorial candidate, Hon Attom Magira said ” we are preparing for the commissioning of our state office by the NNPP Presidential candidate, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso this Saturday. When I came to the office, I saw policemen have taken over the office. When I came closer they asked me”
He said the police questioned him as saying: “Are you Attom? and I answered yes, they said we have been looking for you. They bundled me and forced me in to the Hilux vehicle with one vehicle at the front and back each”.
“The office is my personal property, we are not renting. I have paid all my ground rents and other dues, I see no reason why I was arrested.
“They brought me to the Police headquarters, since 7 am this morning and , it is only now (3pm) that they allow me to change my clothe. Up till this moment, nobody told me why I was arrested”, Attom added.
Reacting to the arrest, the Borno State Police Commissioner, CP Abdul Umar said ,” we the police are none partisan, we received a letter from the party that their Presidential candidate is coming to Maiduguri to commission their office, which we approved but the reason why we sealed the office was that we received a complained from Borno Urban Physical Planning Board that the patty illegal converted residential house to.an office “
On the issue that even the APC and other parties uses residential building as offices, the CP said ,”they only acted on the complaint they received and nobody brings complaint about other party offices”.
