Gunmen disrupt elections in Gombe, kill 7, injure 5

Gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram yesterday disrupted what started as peaceful elections in Gombe state, killing seven persons and injuring five at different locations across the Northern Senatorial District.
The problem started at Shole Makaranta in Funakaye local government area of Gombe state where the gunmen attacked and killed three persons suspected to be ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Their remains were seen along the road close to a filling station and a motorcycle suspected to be theirs, abandoned nearby.
An eyewitness who was among those trickling into the nearby village of Konan Baparu at about 11.58 am said the community was deserted and elections were not holding as at the time, following the invasion of unknown gunmen in two Toyota Hilux vans.
“This village, there is nobody here at all. These few you see are just arriving from their hideouts. We started hearing sounds of gunshots at Shole and shortly after, we saw two Hilux Vans loaded with gunmen and all of us ran away from the village in different directions,” he said.
The gunmen proceeded to Wawa village on Nafada local government where they said to have attacked and killed one more person probably en route Dukku.
They thereafter moved on to Dukku town, headquarters of Dukku local government area where they killed Uar Aminu, the APC lawmaker representing Dukku South at Gombe State House Assembly and two others.
Another eyewitness said elections did not hold in five polling units at Bage Ward of Funakaye local government area as the units were destroyed and voting materials deployed to the unit, were burnt.
Confirming the situation, Spokesman for Gombe Police Command, DSP Fwaje Atajiri said the security operatives killed five of the suspected insurgents at Dukku.
He said that was after the insurgents had killed three persons and burnt the Police Station in one of the nearby villages.
Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya, APC’s gubernatorial candidate has frowned at the development, saying it is unfortunate that after the six weeks postponement, the security agencies could not provide adequate security for the electorates.
He called on the international community to take note of the incident.
The PDP governorship candidate, incumbent Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo has described the election as peaceful.
He commended the people for turning out en masse and urged them to remain calm and peaceful even after the declaration of the results, saying he believed the results would be credible.
Boko Haram, it would be recalled, attacked Gombe on February 14; the date initially slated for today’s election and distributed papers warning that nobody should come out to participate in today’s election.