The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GOMBE

  • Gombe gets new SSG

    Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State on Friday approved the appointment of Mr James Phisagi as Acting Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

    This is contained in statement signed by Alhaji Ahmed Usman, the state’s Head of Civil Service, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe.

    The statement said Phisagi’s appointment was with effect from June 4.

    According the statement, Phisagi, 56, was the Permanent Secretary, General Duties at the SSG’s Office.

    The acting SSG graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 1980 with BSC in Political Science.

  • Angry mob lynch Mopol Officer in Gombe

    Angry mob lynch Mopol Officer in Gombe

    A policeman was Tuesday lynched to death by an angry mob in Gombe metropolis, the state Police Command has confirmed.

    Spokesman for the Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Fwaje Atajiri confirmed the report with a warning that people must not take the laws into their hands.

    He described the incident as regrettable and condemned in entirety, the action of the mobbed policeman for shooting the deceased that led to his lynching.

    Atajiri explained that “even with the shooting of the deceased, which was wrong, the Police officer showed restrain while the dangerous angry mob was after him because, out of the 30 rounds of ammunition released to him, 29 were found intact.”

    Eyewitness account has it that a certain Police Corporal, 38 year old Adamu Abba was hit on his motorbike by a commercial tricycle operator (Keke NAPEP) at Bello Sabon Kudi Junction while on his way to work.

    He added that while the corporal was trying to ensure that the person that hit him and destroyed his motorcycle was brought to justice, other tricycle and motorcycle operators gathered and tried to cover up for the Keke NAPEP operator for their colleague.

    He said when arguments became heated and more crowds attracted; the angered Mobile Police Corporal in self defence shot and killed 37-year old Mallam Gana who was at the fore front of those trying to prevail over him on the matter.

    It was gathered that he thereafter ran into the office of the Secretary of the Gombe Emirate Council for cover while he called his other superior colleagues and explained the matter to them.

    However, before the arrival of the Police, the mob forced its way into the Secretary’s office and lynched the Mobile police personnel to death.

  • Politicians attacked me, says Gombe monarch

    The ruler of Bodor in Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State, Alhaji Saleh Tinka, has alleged that he was attacked by politicians because he stopped them from perpetrating electoral fraud last Saturday.

    He alleged that during accreditation, he queried some politicians giving voters  N1,000 and N500.

    The monarch said they pounced on him and manhandled him and tore his regalia in the presence of his subjects.

    He said he explained to them that his action was to ensure a free and fair election and not an expression of political interest, but they would not listen. “Instead, they humiliated me.”

    Alhaji Tinka said the politicians accused him of asking his subjects to vote a particular party, “which is not true because I’ve never been a politician. I’m a father of the people.”

    The ruler said the situation would have degenerated into a crisis, but for his appeal to his subjects not to resort to violence.

    He said he was yet to report the matter to the police.

  • Gombe Utd will return to Glo Premier League, says official

    Gombe Utd will return to Glo Premier League, says official

    Tanimu Umar, Gombe United’s Media and Publicity Manager, on Wednesday said plans were ongoing to ensure that the club returned to the nation’s top flight, Globacom Premier League.

    Umar told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that plans were at advanced stages for a good outing in the lower league with a target to regain promotion the elite division.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the “Savannah Scorpions’’ as the club is fondly called, were relegated from the Globacom Premier League at the end of the 2014 soccer season.

    Umar said the team had renewed their efforts and had started to weigh their options in the competition in which they would be participating next season.

    “Preparations to start life in the Nigeria National League (NNL) is ongoing, the technical crew and 70 per cent of the team in the last season were retained.

    `‘Although we initially planned to prepare outside our base in Gombe but we had to stay back and continue our preparations due to the just-ended general elections.

    “The NNL congress holding on Wednesday in Abuja will determine our next plans, depending on the date the league will resume,’’ he said.

    He said the team’s target was to at least secure 10 wins from  14 matches to be played in the season.

    “The NNL will be played in four groups, which means, we have 14 matches to play.

    “Our target is to get the maximum points to actualise our plans of regaining promotion to the apex league, and we are also focused on the Federation Cup too,’’ Umar said.

  • Monarch alleges election fraud in Gombe

    The District Head of Bodor in Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State, Alhaji Saleh Tinka has alleged that he was physically assaulted by politicians because he attempted to stop them from perpetrating electoral fraud at his domain during accreditation for last Saturday’s election.

    The traditional ruler alleged that he went to be accredited for the Governorship and State Assembly elections and found a local politician sharing money to prospective voters in the queue in N1, 000= and N500= denominations and queried the action.

    He said, angered by his action, some politicians from the area whom he could identify pounced on him, manhandled him and humiliated by calling him unprintable names and tearing his regalia to shreds publicly before his subjects.

    He said he tried to explain to them that his action was to ensure the voters voted for contestants of their choices and not an expression of any personal political interest but they would not listen and instead, they continued to demean and make to look stupid.

    He said they eventually turned round and accused him of asking his people to vote for a particular party which he said was absolutely a lie because he has never been a politician and as father of the people.

    The traditional ruler explained that the situation would have degenerated into a major crisis if not because he calmed his people down as they were charged and ready to fight for him at that material time.

    He said he was yet to report the matter to the Police for investigation and appropriate action to be taken but may do so in due course.

    When contacted for his own side of the story, the Funakaye Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Usman Ribadu denied bearing hand in assaulting the District Head.

    He said he was only passing by and when he saw commotion, he tried intervening by insisting that the District Head entered his car for safety since he is the Chief Security Officer of the Local Government Area.

     

  • Goje: Gombe APC has no pact with Dankwambo

    Goje: Gombe APC has no pact with Dankwambo

    Senator Danjuma Goje is All Progressives Congress (APC) leader in Gombe State. In this interview with VINCENT OHONBAMU, he speaks about the defection of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains to the APC and other issues.

    People have been defecting massively from the PDP to APC in the last couple of days now. Could you please update us on the issue?

    Today, I received a serving member of the House of Representative who contested election and lost recently. His name is Shuaibu Galadima, he left the PDP for the APC. The Co-ordinator for the person who contested against me for the Senate, Tanimu Usman, who was my former Commissioner and a serving Special Adviser, has also defected to APC. Another serving Special Adviser on Hajj Affairs, Sa’adu Hassan, has also defected from the PDP to the APC. A serving Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Kabiru Kuri Jara, has also defected from the PDP to the APC. Last but not the least for now, a Permanent Commissioner in Gombe State Assembly Service Commission, Abdullahi Magaji Difa, has also defected from PDP to APC. These are the six leaders I received today (Tuesday) with thousands of their supporters. Many leaders are on the way, we’ll let you know as they come

    What do you think is responsible for this mass defection?

    It is a total loss of confidence on the government and the governor of Gombe State as presently constituted under the PDP. People have loss confidence in the government, people are giving up, people have all already concluded that they’ll be defeated on Saturday, and therefore, they want to join the bandwagon; they don’t want to be losers.

    There are rumours that Governor Dankwambo is initiating a parley with the APC. What is your reaction to this?

    What rumour, I don’t understand; are you saying he’s going to step down, or he’s going to contest, as PDP?

    He is going to contest as a PDP candidate and by the time he wins, he would crossover to the APC.

    So, he wants us as the APC to vote for him to win; and then, we will vote against our candidate? Does it make sense? If he had wanted to be in APC, he would have left the PDP and joined the APC from the beginning. He believes in the PDP and now the PDP is gone. Governors left the PDP and joined APC. We have a candidate, who is better than him, Inuwa Yahaya, my former Commissioner of Finance for eight years. He is better equipped to become the governor of Gombe State. In fact, Buhari has further endorsed him to debunk all the insinuations of the governor wanting to sneak into the corridors of power through the backdoors by saying he would convert to the APC after winning. No, we don’t need him! Let him stand in his PDP, we’ll stand in or the APC and go to the polls. And I trust the good people of Gombe State will do the right thing, and that is to vote APC.

    So, you are calling on the people to ignore the rumour insinuations?

    It is in fact a meaningless and baseless rumour. General Buhari himself had clarified the situation that those who wanted to contest under APC have already joined APC. Since he is in PDP, we are parallel. How many days remaining now? Just three days to election! So, we are waiting for the elections to come. Let him contest under PDP and we will support our candidate APC and the good people of Gombe will decide. And I advise them (the electorate) strongly to vote for the APC because it is the party of the people; it’s the party of the country now. We cannot afford to be in the minority, we cannot afford to be in the opposition. We are already backward in Gombe State. We are already devastated here in the Northeast by Boko Haram and other calamities. And the safest way is to be with the Federal Government.

  • Gombe REC urges candidates to emulate Jonathan, Buhari

    Gombe REC urges candidates to emulate Jonathan, Buhari

    Candidates for Saturday’s election have been urged to emulate examples of how to handle outcome of results as set by incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the President Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari in the interest of the public.

    Gombe state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Kassim Gaidam said this while commenting on the extent of preparations by the Independent Electoral Commission INEC for the governorship and state legislative houses on Saturday.

    “I am more concerned about doing a peaceful election and finish in good time. We also expect the candidates to tow the lines of the President Elect and the present President.

    “We expect the candidates to follow the good examples set by them in the interest of our good people,” he said.

    He said the state office of INEC would build on the successes of March 28 where minimal lapses were recorded just as some of the security situation noticed during the exercise had been addressed.

    He said one of such steps was to start distribution of electoral materials Wednesday, unlike the presidential election where materials were distributed on Thursday.

    The Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP Iwuka said every security arrangements for March 28 were still on ground and intact.

    He reiterated that unauthorised organisation with uniforms would still not be allowed at the polling stations except the Peace Corps which had been co-opted by the INEC office in the state.

    He said arrangements had been made for some polling stations which did not have security presence, adding that all those not authorised had been adequately communicated.

     

  • APC defeats PDP in Gombe

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential election in Gombe State.

    It polled 361,245 votes against PDP’s 96,873 votes.

    Prof. Saminu Abdulrahman Ibrahim of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, announced the results about 5 pm yesterday.

    A breakdown of the results showed that APC won in eight of the 11 local governments.

     

  • Soldiers kill 3, arrest one insurgent in Gombe

    Soldiers kill 3, arrest one insurgent in Gombe

    Soldiers from the 301 Artillery Regiment (Support Group) of the Nigeria Army, Gombe, on Monday, killed three suspected insurgents and arrested another in Dukku Local government Area of the state.

    A captain of the regiment who was directed to who brief newsmen on the development, showed them the bodies of the insurgents as well as the arrested suspect at the Quarter Guards of the regiment.

    However, the captain said he was not allowed to disclose his identity, but said the soldiers engaged the insurgents in a gun duel in the area around 1.30 a.m., leading to the death of the three.

    He said items recovered from the insurgents included one Toyota Hilux Van, three prime improvised explosive devices (IEDs), three boxes of .50mm live ammunitions, one card reader belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and one FM rifle.

    Other items recovered from them, according to him, were 150 rounds of .50mm live ammunitions, three bags of rice, a pot of cooked rice, an empty AK 47 magazine, 70 empty cases of .50mm ammunition, tyre patching materials and motor vehicle spare parts, among others.

    Asked for his comments, the commandant of the regiment who also did not disclose his identity, told newsmen that he was not authorised to speak on the issue, adding that only the Director, Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, could provide the details.

  • APC clears presidential election in Gombe

    APC clears presidential election in Gombe

    The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has failed in the just concluded presidential election result announced in Gombe state, scoring 96,873 votes against the All Progressive Party (APC) 361,245.

    Professor Saminu Abdulrahman Ibrahim of ATBU, Bauchi announced the results at about 5:00pm Monday.

    A breakdown of the results indicates that the opposition won in eight out of the eleven local governments that make up the state.

    Saminu Abdulrahman Ibrahim, the collation officer said there were 1,110,105 total numbers of registered voters.

    He said there were a total of 460,599 valid votes out of which it recorded 473,444 total votes cast with 12,845 rejects.

    Meanwhile, the state capital has remained calm after the announcement of the result with people going about their normal activities unlike the wild reaction that greeted the 2011 elections results.