From Onimisi Alao, Yola
Hoodlums on Tuesday crashed into a meeting being held by a factional group of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Adamawa State capital, Yola, causing injuries to some members and breaking the screens of members’ cars.
Members of the Reformed PDP (R-PDP) were holding their meeting in the house of the R-PDP convener, Dr Umar Ardo, when the hoodlums, said to be about 17 in number, broke through the gate and disrupted the meeting.
Dr Umar Ardo who spoke on the development, specified that the thugs inflicted injuries on three people who had left to seek treatment, and smashed the screens of six cars, which were still around the house when reporters got there Tuesday evening.
Ardo was categorical that the thugs were sent by government to stop the meeting, attributing it to the rift that gave birth to the R-PDP in the state late last year.
He said of the Tuesday attack, “We were holding our meeting here in my house when suddenly we heard a loud sound at the gate as some hoodlums, about 15-17 of them crashed in holding machetes, rods, stones and sticks, saying that the state government was not in support of the meeting we were holding.
“Before we knew it, they started hauling stones and those other things they were holding, injuring us and breaking windows of my house and smashing glasses and windscreens of cars.”
He asserted that it was all because of its issues with the main PDP, explaining, “It’s because we do not support the PDP leadership. We reject the AT Shehu leadership because it was not constituted legally. I said this from Day 1.”
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Ardo insisted that the state government, formed by the PDP, had sent the thugs to try to beat the R-PDP into line.
He added however that the police rose to the occasion and was quick to respond to his distress call by rushing over to disperse the hoodlums.
But the Director of Media and Publicity in the Government House, Yola, Mr Solomon Kumanagar, said in a telephone interview that the government had nothing to do with the attack.
Kumangar said, “This is a responsible government which views the security of every resident with all seriousness. The mention of government is just political gameplay.”
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, DSP Suleiman Nguroje, said at press time that he was yet to be briefed on the attack.
Some of the cars affected by the Tuesday attack
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