The Nation Newspaper

Tag: supporters

  • PDP youths attack ACN supporters in Benue

    •Police arrest five suspects

     

    Violence erupted yesterday in Wannune, the headquarters of Tarka Local Government of Benue State, between supporters of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The PDP secretariat in the town was razed while two vehicles belonging to ACN supporters were destroyed.

    A resident, Anjembe Justine, said he witnessed the incident.

    According to him, trouble started when some suspected PDP youths ambushed and attacked a convoy of ACN supporters who were returning from a campaign rally at Pipeline, the headquarters of Mbajirakaa Ward in Tarka Local Government.

    The over 30 youths were reportedly armed with weapons.

    They allegedly injured ACN supporters and set two vehicles on fire at 7pm.

    The crisis, which started in Asunkunya, reportedly spread to Wannune, the country home of Senate Minority Leader George Akume.

    In what appeared to be a reprisal attack, the PDP secretariat and two other buildings were razed.

    Many residents of the town, a sleepy community on the Makurdi-Gboko federal highway, fled their homes.

    Armed policemen were deployed in the area to forestall a breakdown of law and order.

    Police spokesman Daniel Ezeala, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), confirmed the incident.

    He said five persons have been arrested while investigation has begun.

    Ezeala added that the police have been deployed in the area to restore calm.

     

  • PDP chieftains, supporters defy rain for Oke

    PDP chieftains, supporters defy rain for Oke

    Despite the downpour in Akure yesterday that nearly marred the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Chief Olusola Oke’s campaign mega rally, chieftains and supporters of the party defied the rain and trooped out for the event.

    The politicians, clad in yellow vests and fez caps, chanted Oke’s name and sang political songs in the heavy rain which lasted for about three hours.

    Some PDP chieftains became prayer warriors at the rally held at the Akure Democracy Park. They sought God’s intervention and asked him to stop the rain.

    Oke and his running mate, Saka Lawal, who led Vice-President Namadi Sambo, the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and other chieftains to the podium, were moved by the commitment of the chieftains and members who defied the rain and waited for them.

    The PDP standard bearer in the October 20 poll and his running mate later joined the chieftains and members of the party in the rain for the rally.

    Sambo hailed the supporters. He said they have shown that the PDP is ready to reclaim the state.

    The Vice-President said the Ondo people are agitating for a change and want the PDP to reclaim the state.

    Sambo expressed the commitment of the presidency to a free and fair election, saying the President Goodluck Jonathan administration would provide the machinery that would ensure the One Man, One Vote Philosophy.