Tag: Bala Ngilari

Barely few hours after submitting its report, the House of Assembly Primaries Election Committee in Adamawa State for the Peoples Democratic Party yesterday said some agents of Governor Bala Ngilari allegedly “practically kidnapped and placed the team under house arrest from last Saturday morning to Monday afternoon.

It said the committee members were not allowed to play any role in the primaries.

But a party source said the committee made a U-turn in order to set the stage for the cancellation of the results of the primaries in Adamawa.

The panel, which narrated the ordeal of its members in a report to the National Chairman of PDP, Alh. Adamu Muazu, said its members were “held in isolation from any officials except those allowed by the governor and his agents.”

Dated December 1, 2014, the report was signed by the Chairman of the committee, Amb. Tim Ihemadu and Secretary, Mrs. Victoria Nyam-Isha.

The committee’s report reads in part: “On arrival at the Government House and after waiting for 30 minutes, we were ushered into a room where we saw the Governor in company of the Commissioner of Police, the Director SSS, the suspended Chairman of the PDP Chief Joel Madaki and the suspended Secretary Barr. A. T. Shehu and other officials.

“After introduction, the Governor confronted us with a document which was a Court Order stating that the primaries in Adamawa must be conducted with the old 3 delegates list and not with the list submitted by Sen. Bala Adamu Congress Committee. The Governor also informed us that the Court Order has reinstated Chief Joel Madaki and Barr. A. T. Shehu as Chairman and secretary of PDP Adamawa state respectively. The Governor insisted that he could not guarantee our security or safety if we do not comply with the court orders and conduct the primaries in accordance with same.

“The Chairman of the House of Assembly Committee Amb. Tim Ihemadu asked whether the Court Order has been served on the National Secretariat of PDP in Abuja, to which there was no clear answer.

“At the end of the session, the Committee was taken to a hotel owned by the Governor called MUNA Hotel. No sooner had the Committee Members settled in their rooms than thugs led by Chief Joel Madaki and Barr. A. T. Shehu invaded the hotel, surrounded it and accompanied the two leaders into our rooms.

“They demanded that we must conduct the primaries using the old delegates list and we must recognize Chief Joel Madaki and Barr. A. T. Shehu as leaders of the party. The Committee Members unanimously explained that the Committee could only work with materials and officials handed over to them by the National Secretariat and that we had no mandate to accept any other materials or officials. The explanation drew even more crowd. Some of the thugs began to physically molest Committee Members including insults in the presence of police men and officials of the party. “

The panel also explained that it was barred from conducting the primaries on a neutral ground at the secretariat or any neutral venue.

It added: “We then received a delegation from the Governor led by some elders who claimed to be on a mission to rescue us from the hotel to the safety of the Presidential lodge in Government House.

“At the Presidential lodge, we were surprised to see thugs walking freely through the security of police men right into the lodge and into our rooms. At a stage all the members huddled into the Chairman’s suite thoroughly frightened for our lives. We passed the night under such horrible conditions.

“On Sunday the 30th of November 2014, we demanded to leave the lodge in order to perform our duty on neutral ground at the secretariat or any neutral venue. We appealed to security agencies to rescue us out of the siege without success.

“However, the police later agreed to escort us into waiting vehicles but at this stage thugs invaded our rooms in the presence of some party leaders and forced us to surrender election materials to Chief Joel Madaki, Barr. A. T. Shehu, the State Organizing Secretary Mr. Prambe and other officials. The only material not collected is the 3 delegate list given to us by the National Secretariat for the conduct of the election.”

The panel said the results of the primaries were collated by the governor’s agents.

It alleged that members were allegedly forced to sign the results of the primaries.

The report added: “At this stage, the threat was so visible and our fears so real that we had to send distressed text messages to some leaders in the state which we believe were forwarded to leaders of our party and some security agencies.

“By evening on Sunday, we were again compelled to begin receiving results in our heavily barricaded presidential lodge. Our movements were severely restricted and monitored by thugs and security agencies and we were not allowed any success outside the Presidential lodge except during periodic visits to the Governor’s lodge. We were held in strict isolation from any officials except those allowed by the Governor and his agents.

“On Monday morning, all the results having been collated by the Governor’s agents, we were ordered to sign the result sheets which we resisted and also ordered to brief the press which we did highlighting our difficulty. At around 1:30 pm, we were escorted to the airport by security agents and officials of the government.

“We boarded a chartered plane escorted by security agents and some government officials to Abuja. At Abuja, the government convoy trailed us to our destination but we had to escape from the convoy to prepare this special letter to the National Chairman.

• Throughout our ordeal in Adamawa state, we could not brief the full

Executive of the party.

• We did not use the premises or offices of the party.

• We did not see or address the aspirants in the election.

• We were not allowed to play any role in the so called election that followed.

• We were not allowed to leave our rooms in the Presidential lodge

except to visit the Governor under heavy escort.

• We were constantly threatened, abused, harassed and even physically

molested by thugs, the suspended PDP State chairman, suspended PDP

State Secretary, the PDP State Organizing Secretary as well as other

agents of the Governor.

• We were practically kidnapped and held under house arrest from

Saturday morning to Monday afternoon.

 

Saturday‘s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Assembly primary election in Adamawa State ended abruptly, as Governor Bala Ngilari rejected the delegates list presented by the party for the state.

There was drama when the chairman of the primary election committee, Senator Bala Adamu was prevented from conducting the election with the list of delegates he obtained from the national secretariat of the party.

Trouble started when Governor Ngilari and other key stakeholders in the state refused to allow the use of the list, saying that the document had been doctored.

According to the governor’s camp, the names on the delegates list were not known to party members in the state, insisting that the list was a sharp contrast to the authentic list agreed to by all stakeholders of the party in the state.

Ngilari said: “When Senator Bala Adamu came, all stakeholders agreed that in view of the security challenges, the list used for the primary that produced Ahmadu Fintiri should be used, unless where such delegates have defected or are dead. Everyone signed that list. So nobody can force anyone on us.”

The governor was also quoted to have told the committee led by Ambassador Tim Eyemba that the law court had already ruled in favour of the previous list used for the November 1 exercise and which was acceptable to stakeholders in the state.

The governor and his camp observed that the new list of delegates was tempered with in 15 out of the 21 local government areas in the state.

 

Nigerian Air Force chopper crash landed yesterday in Adamawa State.

The aircraft was believed to be on a mission but crashed barely four minutes after taking off.

The chopper was believed to be carrying five foreign troops at the time of crash at Damare village near the Benue River Valley.

A source close to the government, however, ruled out the possibility of the military air craft being attacked by  insurgents

Adamawa State Governor Bala Ngilari expressed optimism that with the level of commitment from the military,  seized towns would be recaptured.

The Defence Headqurters  confirmed the crash in a statement by the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade.

The statement said: “A Nigerian Air Forces Helicopter with call sign Shark 23 on a training mission executed a controlled forced landing 4 minutes after take-off at the runway approach end of Yola International Airport today at about 0930hours.

“There is no casualty recorded as all the crew members have been recovered back to the base.  The Nigerian Air Force Headquarters has already set up an investigation panel to unravel the circumstances that led to the incident.”

The Director Press and Public Affairs to the Governor  Mr. P.P. Elishe, pleaded with the people to remain calm as the incidence cannot in any way deter the ongoing operations in Mubi, Michika and Madagali Areas.

It  was also gathered that  the military swiftly cordoned off the area and evacuated the victims and other operations facilities after the clash.

 

The Governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari, has appealed to citizens of the state to remain calm despite attacks by insurgents.

In a state-wide broadcast yesterday, he expressed sadness over the hardship of the displaced persons and assured that relief materials would be distributed to them.

He called on the federal government to hasten its efforts because humanitarian crisis was overwhelming the populace, adding that a high powered committee had been inaugurated to address the problems confronting internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the recent attack on Mubi town by the Boko Haram sect.

The governor also called on national and international agencies to come to the aid of the state “as the meagre resources we have cannot meet the myriads of needs posed by this problem.”

He said 79 vehicles have been sent in the past two days to evacuate the affected persons to designated camps.

He explained that the purpose was to keep the displaced persons out of harm’s way and to be resettled in camps in suitable locations.

He said government would continue to do all it can in providing basic necessities to the displaced persons until they were reunited with their families.

“I have also been in touch with the President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to address the issue of our citizens who are now refugees in Cameroon. Some displaced citizens are in Cameroon suffering untold hardship,’’ he added.

The governor assured the citizens that the government was doing everything to address the situation. He advised displaced persons who were staying with their relatives to ensure that they were registered at the designated camps.

He called on people of the state and the country at large to pray to God to take away the scourge of insurgency and restore peace and tranquility to Nigeria.

Meanwhile, details of how the insurgents attacked the ancestral home of Air Marshall Alex Sabundo Badeh, the Chief of Defence Staff are emerging. An eye witness said the Boko Haram sect also bombed the church near the house in Vimtim before invading the home of the CDS and his extended families.

Mr. Michael Tize, who operates a shop in Vimtim town which is five kilometres from Mubi, said the bandits were made up of some young men carrying AK47 riffles with an unusual dress pattern while the elders had military uniforms and turbans on their heads. “They first destroyed the Church which is on the road and they bombed it but the soldiers had left the town so there was no combat, and they moved to the house of Oga Badeh.”

According to the eye witness, before bombing the house, it took Boko Haram more than four hours to ransack the house, remove all properties and load them into trucks before an aircraft came from nowhere and completely demolished the huge structure.

Another eye witness, Sani Hayatu, pointed out that the unidentified aircraft after bombing the complex moved into Mubi township bombing many strategic places like the Nigerian Army Barracks and the high profile military hardware which was moved from Yola to Mubi to tackle the sect last month.

This has spread fear that all the weapons have now fallen into the hands of Boko Haram and that the insurgents may use the equipment to capture the state capital Yola.

•’I’m being victimised for joining APC’

Adamawa State Governor Bala Ngilari yesterday suspended Gombi Local Government executives for “financial misappropriation”.

The suspension letter, signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Ibrahim Welye, reads: “In pursuant of the powers conferred on the governor by Section 28(2) of the State Local Government Administration Law No.4 of 2,000, the Gombi Local Government Council is hereby suspended from office with immediate effect, pending further investigation into allegations of gross misappropriation of public funds as contained in an audit report submitted to the government.”

The council Chairman, Rufai Umar, was said to have “over drafted” about N10.6 million without going through official account; paid N47.4 million without document; tagged N34 million as misplaced payment voucher; and inflated the cost of building his official residence to N35.3 million, among others.

He is to hand over to the council’s head of service.

Umar said he was being victimised for defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC last month with about eight councillors.

Umar said no amount of intimidation could make him return to the PDP, adding: “If they like, they should lock me up and throw the keys into the ocean, I will remain in the APC.”