The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Hoodlums

  • Hoodlums allegedly beat up teacher over conversion of school to council secretariat

    Hoodlums allegedly beat up teacher over conversion of school to council secretariat

    Suspected hoodlums have beaten up a teacher in the Ilashe area of Ipokia Local Government for allegedly resisting an attempt to convert a public school in the area to the headquarters of one of the newly created local council development area in Ogun State.

    The teacher, Kayode Omitogun was allegedly stripped naked by the hoodlums and dragged in a mud water.

    The incident according to sources happened last Wednesday at Mayigi Community Comprehensive High School in Ilashe.

    It was learnt that Omitogun’s assailants were led to the school by a community leader cum politician in order to take over a block of classrooms for the purpose of converting the building to the council’s secretariat when Omitogun resisted them on the grounds that it was a public educational facility.

    A source said: ‘’ Although pupils are currently on holiday but Omitogun went to the school to resist the immoral attempt to convert the school to a council secretariat. In the process, he was stripped naked, beaten in a pool of mud water for about 30 minutes by thugs loyal to some politicians who stormed the school to take over a block of classrooms for the use of a newly established local council development area.

    ‘’ One of the thugs also smashed a bottle on Omitogun’s head. But for the intervention of passers-by that took him to a nearby hospital, he would have died from the brutality meted to him by thugs loyal to the politicians.’’

    An enquiry was forwarded to the Press Officer of Ogun State Ministry of Education, Mr Abiodun Oduyebo, and he promised to revert to our correspondent.

    He was however unable to do so as of press time.

  • Hoodlums invade NYSC Camp in Niger

    Hoodlums invade NYSC Camp in Niger

    Hoodlums on Monday evening invaded the temporary orientation camp of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) in Paikoro, Niger state carting away the properties of NYSC and belongings of Corps members.

    The hoodlums invaded the orientation camp as early as 6am when preparations for leaving the camp was in high tempo.
    Items stolen include fans, mattresses, beddings, and bedsheets amongst others.

    The hoodlums whose number remain unknown pretended to be NYSC officials until some observant Corps members discovered that they were not officials and raised alarm, but before the alarm, a lot of items had already been carted away.

    The alarm attracted the attention of the security agents in the camp who immediately moved in and in the process, some of the stolen items were traced to the staff quarters of the Government Secondary School.

    As at the time of filing this report, one person has been arrested in connection with the robbery while some of the items have been discovered including six fans which were purchased for the male and female hostels during the visit of the NYSC, Director General.

    The NYSC Coordinator in Niger state, Mrs. Theresa Arokoyo while speaking about the robbery said if the NYSC had permanent orientation camp in the state, such an incident would not have occurred.

    She said that the current temporary orientation camp is printed to vandals adding that this incident is not the first time as their camp had always been vandalized each time it is closed after orientation.

    “This development makes the authority to spend extra money each time we resume for orientation camp.”

    Arokoyo while speaking to the Niger state Acting Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso during the closing ceremony of the orientation course of the Batch A Stream 1 in Paikoro appealed to the state government to make haste in its promise in providing a permanent orientation camp in the state.

    The Niger State Acting Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso said that the state government is working hard in ensuring that the permanent orientation camp is ready before the end of 2017.

    He urged the Corps members to use their services as a tool for national unity stressing on the need to leave behind imprints of their programs and projects that will address the basic needs of their host communities.

  • Lagos lament hoodlums’ takeover of abandoned houses

    Lagos lament hoodlums’ takeover of abandoned houses

    OVER 60 Federal Government abandoned properties at Lagos Island Central Business District (CBD) have become hideout for miscreants, a governor’s aide said yesterday.
    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s Special Adviser on CBD, Agboola Dabiri, who said most of the abandoned buildings had been converted to criminal dens.
    Some of the abandoned buildings, he explained, harboured as many as 100 hoodlums, adding that these building are located at Tinubu Square, Marina, among others.
    Dabiri said the government would dislodge criminals from the buildings.
    He said one of the biggest challenges of the CBD was over-population, which arose from the state’s thriving economy.
    “Lagos State is the only thriving state in Nigeria; people come here to sell their goods around 5.00am and by 8:30am, they are gone. The crowd there is too much; we are talking about human traffic.
    “Managing human traffic is not easy. When you have large number of people coming to the CBD, it comes with waste challenges. On the Island CBD, about N3 billion exchanges hands on daily basis in terms of transaction,” he said.
    However, the special adviser said all illegal structures and shanties around Idumota pedestrian bridge were demolished for the first time in over 15 years, providing opportunity for people to use it.
    “Until the state government, through the CBD embarked on the demolition late last year, hoodlums and miscreants had turned the place to a safe haven to perpetrate evil and commit vices. Pedestrians in large numbers, irrespective of state of origin have been commending the government for saving them the stress of crossing the road and freedom from the antics of undesirable elements, who hibernate around the area,” he said.
    Dabiri said the agency had dismissed some workers whose actions undermined its objectives.
    “For the records, four monitoring officers and some volunteers were recently dismissed for dereliction of duty. The present administration has equally organised series of trainings, meetings and seminars geared at re-orientating and awakening a renewed mind set of staff, monitoring officers as well as volunteer corps,” he said.

  • Rampaging hoodlums injure many in Lagos

    Rampaging hoodlums injure many in Lagos

    Several people Wednesday sustained injuries and vehicles smashed after hoodlums went on rampage at Mushin, Oshodi and Lawanson areas of Lagos State.

    The hoodlums, suspected to be rival cultists, were said to have started fighting since Monday night.

    They were said to have fired gunshots and flung bottles, cutlasses at will along Lawanson Road in Surelere, injuring passersby.

    Although the cause of the fracas was yet unknown, the hoodlums scared motorists and pedestrians between Charity Bus Stop and Afariogun on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, when they started flinging bottles at opposite directions.

    As at 8am Wednesday, soldiers attached to Operation Mesa and anti-riot policemen were seen at strategic locations at the affected areas to prevent degeneration.

    An eyewitness, John Udoh said: “It was like war situation. Gunshots were fired and we took cover in our home. Many vehicles were smashed. My car was badly damaged. My landlord’s car was touched. Two of my neighbors, who were coming back from night duty, were seriously injured. I don’t know what they are fighting for but I think it was a battle of supremacy.

    “They have been meeting publicly for about three days now. They smoked and drank publicly.  We reported to the police, but they did not take any action until this fight broke out. I am appealing to the Police Commissioner to prevail on his men to be proactive. We foresaw danger and reported to the authority concern, yet they did not take action.”

    According to one Ebrison Akpan over 20 persons were injured at the fight in Mushin, including traders.

    He claimed that street urchins took advantage of the fight to unleash mayhem on passersby.
    “They also used the opportunity to rob innocent people. My friend, Ayim lost his tricycle to the hoodlums,” said Akpan.

    Contacted, the command’s spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole said no life was lost.
    He confirmed there was a fight at Ladipo Market in Mushin, but added that he was unaware of the Oshodi and Lawanson fracas.

    Famous-Cole said: “It was a minor dispute among traders. Area D commander, DPO, and patrol team responded to the scene. They had a meeting with all the parties and stakeholders in the market. They were warned to maintain peace. Normalcy has returned to the place and the Commissioner of Police had order a continuous police presence in the area. I am not aware of the other locations you mentioned.

    “The only incident I know about in Surulere is a case id robbery, where two suspects were arrested. The suspects were almost being lynched but police moved in and rescued them. They were taken to LUTH.”

  • Hoodlums raze NSCDC office in Jigawa

    Hoodlums raze NSCDC office in Jigawa

    THE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) office in Maigatari Local Government of Jigawa State was last Thursday razed by hoodlums.
    Reports said the hoodlums mobilised themselves about 7pm on a market day, stormed the NSCDC office and beat officers before setting the building ablaze.
    Spokesman Adamu Abdullahi confirmed the incident. He said no life was lost.
    “Last Thursday, about 10am, a soldier reported to our office in Maigatari council, that he suspected his friend was having an illegal affair with his wife.
    “So we invited the suspect for investigation and in the process, two persons claiming to be soldiers came on a motorcycle and demanded for his release. They insisted the suspect is their friend and, therefore, must be released.
    “When our officers refused to release the suspect, one of them went out and came back with sticks and broken bottle, which he allegedly used to beat our officers on duty.
    “For fear of what might happen, we contacted the police but there was no response; we also contacted the OC of “Operation Salama, in charge of the area, but he said his boys were on patrol and came himself.
    “When our officers noticed the situation was getting out of hand, they released the soldier to the OC on bail.
    “Some hoodlums started booing our officers and stoned the officers on duty. But the youths still mobilised and burnt down our office.
    “Investigation has begun and a manhunt for the perpetrators has begun,” Abdullahi said.

  • Hoodlums axe policeman to death

    Hoodlums axe policeman to death

    Hoodlums at the weekend axed a Deputy Superintendent of Police Aaron Sunday to death in Minna, Niger state.
    Sunday, who was the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) at the Kpakungu Division in Minna, was said to have led some of his men to quell invasion of a wedding party by some hoodlums at Barasken- sale ward when the incident occurred.
    According to eyewitnesses, the police team was trying to restore order to the wedding arena when one of the hoodlums axed the DSP from behind.
    He reportedly died before getting to the hospital.
    An eyewitness said: “Someone sent a distress call to the police that some area boys high with smoking of Indian hemp and inhaling of solution were harassing innocent people at the venue of the party.
    “While the police team was trying to bring about law and order one of the boys axed the DSP from behind.”
    Confirming the incident, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Bala Elkana, said over 13 suspects had been arrested by the command.
    He said the suspects were helping the police fish out the rest of the hoodlums.
    “Any youth caught in the act will suffer the same and will be charge to court. It is high time we stopped the madness,” Elkana stated.
    The remains of DSP Aaron Sunday have been deposited at the Minna General Hospital morgue.

  • Hoodlums burn APC chieftain’s house in Gboko

    Unidentified hoodlums suspected to be members of a secret cult, yesterday burnt the home of a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gboko Local Government of Benue State, Joseph Hilenyi, destroying farm produce and valuables worth millions of naira.

    Hilenyi narrowly escaped death.

    They are believed to be protesting the murder of a father of their member, a notorious gang leader and rebellious beneficiary of the amnesty programme, Mr. Torkuma Gyakpa aka ‘Wicked Chief’.

    Hilenyi is a former youth leader in Gboko council and constituency aide to the lawmaker representing Gboko/Tarka Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, John Dyegh.

  • Motorists groan as ‘hoodlums’ make driving in Port Harcourt a nightmare

    Motorists groan as ‘hoodlums’ make driving in Port Harcourt a nightmare

    These days,  vehicles and motorcycles are blocked in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital by men in white and green T-shirts, with “Rivers State Government” boldly written at the back. They claim to be checking wrong parking, without having identity cards. They are in the habit of impounding vehicles and driving it to an expansive yard on the site of the new Rivers State School of Nursing, directly opposite the old University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH).

    Quite unfortunately, the school of nursing, which could not be completed by the Rotimi Amaechi administration has now been turned into a den for illegal acts.

    The old UPTH was demolished by the Amaechi’s government, with the construction of Mothers and Children Hospital started at the site by the administration, but could not be completed till the end of the tenure on May 29, 2015.

    The yard for seized vehicles and motorcycles (school of nursing, Port Harcourt) now has many shanties, with the uncompleted buildings also turned to barracks/accommodation by many policemen, civilians and miscreants, with the bushy environment becoming an eyesore, while many teenage girls having little children litter the yard.

    While Niger Delta Report was at the yard from 9:30 a.m. on undercover investigation to 8:30 p.m., the hoodlums and their friends were freely smoking Indian hemp, taking hard drugs and drinking alcohol, while claiming to be on duty.

    Besides seizing vehicles, the mindless and rough-looking youths also harass commercial vehicle drivers over stickers and hackney permit, while attracting outrageous sums of money.

    The vehicles-impounding squad is headed by a man identified as Boma, whose wife has a liquor shop in one of the shanties in the yard.

    Once vehicles and motorcycles are towed/moved into the yard, behind the popular Sharks Stadium, the tyres would be deflated, keys seized by the miscreants and demand of money from N45,000 would be made, without receipts/booking documents, thereby confirming the hoodlums’ illegalities.

    For the fear of losing their vehicles to armed robbers or to prevent them from being vandalised before daybreak, contacts would then be made through the telephone by the victims, for their colleagues, relatives, friends and associates to assist in raising the money, which might be as high as N100,000 or more, before the keys of vehicles/motorcycles would be released, making the yard to always contain many impounded vehicles and motorcycles.

    Victims would then begin another round of agony of pumping the tyres, with many vulcanisers on standby, but charging N500 per tyre, instead of the usual N50, under normal circumstance.

    Investigation also revealed that from the N500 for pumping each tyre, the vulcaniser would only get between N100 and N150, while the balance would go to the leaders of the hoodlums, which they would share every evening.

    The last point of harassment, before impounded vehicles and motorcycles would be allowed to leave the premises was the main gate, where the usually-drunk gatemen would still insist on collecting N1,000, before opening the gate, claiming that the hoodlums would not share the collected “loot” with them.

    Not minding the number of hours spent by the victims to plead with the terrible gatemen, exit would be denied, until they collected money.

    While in the midst of the miscreants, with identity concealed, the ignorant hoodlums, unaware of who their employer was, claimed they were engaged by the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government Council, popularly called PHALGA, Hon. Christian Chiokwa, who insisted that he and his council were not aware of the activities of the criminals.

    Chiokwa, through his spokesman, Mike Iwezor, noted that he, as a complete gentleman and a child of God, would never be part of illegal activities/engaging hoodlums, especially with his council having competent and committed officials/employees, saddled with the responsibility of legitimately collecting taxes and levies.

    Shortly after a senior pastor’s car was towed into the yard, the cleric made some calls and wanted one of the secretaries to speak with the person on the other end, but the lady in her early 20s declined, while the pastor threatened to report the harassment to Governor Nyesom Wike, his friend, the secretary said: “Na the same Nyesom Wike we dey work for. Go ahead and report us. Nothing will happen,” and she walked away, ignoring the elderly cleric, who complained loudly that they had on the way to the yard, forcibly collected all the money he had on him.

    A secondary school teacher was driving in highbrow D-Line (Direct Main Line), Port Harcourt, when his phone rang and he parked his car by the road side to answer the call, with the car’s hazard lights on, but Boma’s boys towed the car to their yard and accused the young tutor of obstructing traffic, forcing the teacher, who had just N2,000 on him, to contact relatives, who brought huge sum of money, which he refused to disclose, to avoid being trailed, before his car was granted “bail.”

    There was also the case of senior employee of a popular company, who went to a first generation bank near the Federal High Court on Station Road, Port Harcourt to transfer money to his family in Lagos.

    After the transaction at the bank, the easy-going man drove out and linked Station Road to return to his office in Mile One, Diobu in the Rivers State capital, not knowing that the ‘hoodlums’ in unmarked car behind, saw him as he drove out of the bank.

    The top official continued driving, until he got to the ever-busy junction by Post Office Bus Stop and he decided to allow a car, whose driver had indicated that he wanted to enter the road to the Rivers state secretariat, while also slowing down to allow a police van coming from the Port Harcourt office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), near Government House, to pass.

    Shortly after the imposing Spar Shopping Mall, the bandits blocked the car of the senior official, accused him of obstructing traffic, one of them took over the steering, while three others jumped into the car and insisted that they must drive it to their yard, which they did, with demand of N45,000 made, but the chief executive gave them the N5,000 on him, which they collected and refused to release the car, in spite of pleading from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., making him to return home without the car.

    The ‘hoodlums’, who impounded the car, having earlier indicated that they were working for PHALGA chairman, the senior official simply contacted Chiokwa (the local government boss), who detailed top official of the local government to accompany the man to the yard, only to see Boma, a known face, whom the PHALGA official confirmed had been into touting and thuggery for many years.

    In spite of the PHALGA’s official pleading with Boma to release the car, he was adamant and still insisted on collecting N45,000. The LG official then met with one of the sub-chairmen of the yard, who was well-known to him and who acted reasonably, thereby disclosing that Boma and others were working for the Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development and Physical Planning.

    The ‘hoodlums’ told Boma that they saw the senior executive driving out of a bank and he should be able to afford the N45,000 demanded.

    When it became obvious that Boma did not want to release the car, in spite of the intervention of the PHALGA’s official, the senior executive opted to contact top military chiefs at the newly-created 6th Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, to come and take the car by force, which one of the touts eavesdropped on and quickly ran to Boma to alert him as the PHALGA official and top executive of the renowned firm were driving out of the yard in the LG official’s car.

    Boma jumped out of one of the shanties and ran to the road, asking the senior executive and the LG official to meet with one of his secretaries to pick the key of the impounded car.

  • Residents flee as hoodlums kill tenant, rob another

    Residents flee as hoodlums kill tenant, rob another

    It was like a movie scene. As the man drove into his compound at 6 Mustapha Street in Baruwa, Ipaja, Lagos, some hoodlums on motorcycles swooped on him, bundled him into the trunk of his Lexus 330 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and sped off.
    His fellow tenants watched as they went away with Tony alias, Yayo whose body was found the next day near Maryam Hall, about three streets away.
    It was learnt that his killers dumped his mobile phone on his body and made away with his SUV.
    According to the residents, Tony’s death was the beginning of their woes.
    A tenant who gave her name as Kemi, said all the residents have vacated the compound, adding that they were advised by the agent to leave after another tenant, Chris Igombor was wounded on Saturday night, Fridays after Tony was killed.
    Kemi told The Nation that she and many others left the compound before Igombor was attacked, attributing their exit to threats from the late Tony’s siblings and strange faces.
    She said: “The compound has seven flats. Five flats are on the main building and two at the boys, quarters. When we heard of his death, other neighbours gathered and went to his flat to commiserate with his wife and siblings. While we were there, some weird looking men about 15 in number came in and we all left.
    “We decided to have a meeting to discuss security related issues in order to forestall a recurrence of such incident but one of Tony’s brothers came there and was shouting that why is it now we want to have the meeting? That is it after his brother has been killed we would call for meeting? That they knew we (tenants) were jealous of Tony and that they would ensure we don’t have peace.
    “One of their sisters, who is a policewoman also said the same thing and threatened some of us. In fact, they were attacking me that I knew when Tony got back and I knew he was attacked but I kept quiet. I asked them if I was the gate man or the one who usually opened the gate for their brother whenever he came back home. But the woman threatened me and said so many frightening things.
    “The next thing she made a call and some guys came to the compound saying “you people have killed Tony, you won’t have peace in this house. So that night, a lot of us left the house and sought shelter elsewhere. I packed some of the things I would need and stayed away.
    “Two people stayed back to pack their things. One of them later called me that those weird looking people came back and were shouting. That they had to call their relatives outside the premises who invited the police and the boys were escorted out of the compound. I was told that the policemen that came also warned Tony’s relatives to stop intimidating other tenants because of their brother’s death.
    “But on Saturday night, one of the neighbours, Igombor was attacked by armed robbers. They hit his head with a gun and they took his money, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, phones and those of his wife as well as his laptop. He was rushed to the hospital where the injury was stitched.
    “So, on Monday, the agent called for a meeting but only three of us attended. Other tenants didn’t show up. He then advised that for now, we should all vacate the premises so that things would calm down.”
    Igombor said he did not know if there was any link between his attack and the threats.
    The robbers, he said, came to the compound around 8pm on Saturday and used his daughter who was outside as bait.
    Igombor said: “Honestly, I wouldn’t want to talk on Tony’s family’s behaviour. I also don’t know if there’s any link to the attack. But they really threatened us especially Kemi. There was rancour and tempers ran high.
    “What happened on Saturday was that the gate was still opened. It was around 8pm and my daughter was outside my apartment. The armed robbers just escorted her into my apartment and immediately they saw me, they hit me on the head with their gun.
    “They collected the cash I had at hand which was about N30,000, they took my laptop, phone, my wife’s phones and my ATM cards. They asked for my pins and threatened that they would come back for me if I gave them wrong pins. So, I gave them the pins of the two cards.
    “Before I could call my banks to block the cards, they had already cleared all the money inside. I had N9,000 in one account and N30,000 in the other.
    “While they were still at my place, some of them were dancing to the music I had on, while others robbed me. It was when they were leaving that one of them saw blood gushing from my head and he told me to go and wash my head. They locked us in one room. We stayed there until they had gone before we came out and I went to the hospital for treatment. I went to Ipaja Police Station and complained afterwards.
    “Yes, there’s no one at the compound for now. The agent said they have to do certain repairs to improve security. It may take a week or so.”
    The late Tony’s siblings declined comment. One of his brothers, Mark, who was contacted handed the phone to a woman, who passed it to another man that said he was a policeman and wouldn’t speak on the issue.
    At the time of this report, the command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police (SP) had not replied our text.

  • Thugs attack Shehu Sani’s Kaduna office

    Thugs attack Shehu Sani’s Kaduna office

    •Senator blames attack on El-Rufai’s men •You are being childish -Governor’

    Barely four days after the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State suspended the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani indefinitely, some hoodlums yesterday afternoon attacked his constituency office on Junction Road, in Kaduna North local government. They allegedly carted away mobile phones and other things from the survivors of the attack.
    According to Senior Special Adviser (Political) to Senator Sani, Suleiman Ahmed, the onslaught was in continuation of attacks on the family house of the law maker at Tudun Wada Kaduna.
    He said, “They are just jealous of senator’s political achievement. The Senior Special Adviser on Politics to the Governor, Uba Sani is behind all these things. But then, that will not deter the senator from listening to the people and put their interest above the party’s or personal interest.
    “They started on Friday. They laid siege on the senator’s family house on Friday before Police came and dispatched them using teargas. This Saturday (yesterday) afternoon again, they attacked his constituency office around stadium roundabout. I was informed that the attackers, who were armed stormed the office where some people were having meeting and destroyed what they could and collected their phones and all that. We have called the police to put the situation under control.”
    As at the press time, police spokesman in the state, ASP Usman Aliyu, could not ascertain the level of damage but unofficial sources said that Police have taken over the building to calm the situation.
    However, Senator Sani, who has just returned from a foreign trip, confirmed the attack via his social media pages.
    He wrote, “Some few minutes ago, I received a report that some heavily armed thugs raided and attacked my constituency office located at Stadium Roundabout by Constitution Road, Kaduna. They unleashed terror on my social media team who were meeting in the office. They vandalised the office in their violent act.
    “We have the lead and the information that thugs were fully recruited and paid by political appointees of Governor Nasiru El-Rufai. We have the names of the political appointees and we have the names of those they are funding. Right now their details have been given to the DSS and the police for investigation.
    “Two days ago, attempt to burn down my family house in Alkalawa Road, Tudun Wada Kaduna by sponsored thugs, was thwarted by vigilant residents and neighbours, which led to the brief deployment of policemen in the area.
    “I wish to state it categorically clear that I hold Governor El-Rufai personally responsible for whatever happens to me or any of my family members or supporters. After the use of financial inducement on APC excos in the state to silence Sani in the name of suspension which never worked, they have now taken the road of violence.
    “The governor of the state or his desperate political appointees should know that we can never ever be silenced or intimidated. I call on my supporters never to take the road of violence or retaliation.
    “We are men of ideas, of ideals and of peace. Those who take to the road of violence have no place in a democratic society,” Sani stressed.
    Meanwhile, Special Adviser on Political Matters to the Governor, Uba Sani, told Shehu Sani to stop blaming his woes on El-Rufai’s government.
    He advised the Senator to stop what he called his political tantrums and grow up, or at least try to match the dignity, refinement and decorum expected of a Senator.
    Uba Sani said that Shehu Sani has reached the career limit that chicanery and thuggery can facilitate and he should desist from blaming his woes on the state government.
    According to Uba Sani :”It has become imperative to set the record straight. Everyone knows that it is Shehu Sani that has spent 18 months attacking the Governor personally and opposing every government policy.
    The government has ignored his tantrums, while the party has acted to uphold discipline. Shehu Sani should keep the government out of his woes.
    “We are beneficiaries of democracy and we champion an open society. We respect democratic values and will never resort to unconstitutional means of settling differences. He should be careful not to make wild and unsubstantiated claims.” Uba Sani maintained.