Governor Shettima After My Life" - Ex-Commissioner Bwala Says After Escaping Assassination
Former Commissioner for Home Affairs Information and Culture has said that, the political disagreement between Borno state Governor,Kashim Shettima and his erstwhile political godfather, Ali ModuSheriff assumed a dangerous dimension last Wednesday when gunmen suspected to have been sponsored by the embattled Governor attempted to kidnap or possibly assassinate him.
The former Commissioner for Home Affairs Information and Culture, Mr Inuwa Bwala, in an electronic statement made available to newsmen in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital stated that, ostensibly for supporting Sheriff against him and for his critical stance against his Government since he was sacked under controversial circumstances last April, 2014, the Borno state governor Kashim Shettima has been looking for ways to eliminate him.
Bwala had earlier escaped being kidnapped along the MaiduguriDamboa Road on April 5th, two days after his sack, when somebody using a car similar to his own and travelling along the same route on the fateful date was wrongfully kidnapped, taken into a seeming Boko Haram camp but later freed when his abductors realized they made the wrong catch.
It could be recalled that the former Commissioner has refused visiting Borno state or his home town since he left office when he was alerted of plans to harm him by his former boss, even as he had earlier stated in an interview that he has been a target, since he took sides with senator Sheriff in the imbroglio.
A rattled Bwala told journalists that events reminiscent of the murder of prominent politicians in Borno state, including EngineerFannami Gubio, governorship flagbearer, Awagana Ngala partychairman in the buildup to the 2011 Governorship elections, and lately Zanna Mallam Gana, former Commissioner for Justice,have began playing out as he suspects his former boss to be behind the plot to harm him.
The former Commissioner said it was a very clear case of either assassination or kidnap, and that what saved him,was his driver and the other friend ridding with him who quickly denied he was the one. He his name was called three times by his suspected assailants, even after his driver had maneuvered his car away from the gate when it became obvious that they were in danger.
Bwala stated in the statement that after due consultation with security agents that he had to leave home for the safety of his family, but as for him, it was not surprising that he is being haunted by Governor Kashim Shettima, knowing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of his former colleagues and political associates in the build up to the 2011 elections and even after.
“I wish to state for the avoidance of doubts and for the records that, should anything untoward happen to me now or during the campaigns and elections, my family should hold KashimShettima responsible, as he has sufficient motive to gun for me and given the unclear circumstances surrounding similar incidents for which he is being suspected, he is my primary suspect”, Bwala stated.
He said he is neither scared nor deterred, as he knows the whole intention is to keep him out of the way so that the mischief and smear campaign against senator Ali Modu Shberiff could go on unchallenged, stressing that he is even more determined to speak out and expose the other details Nigerians were not aware of about the atrocities going on in Borno state.
According to his driver, Mallam Ishaka Hassan, who also spoke to newsmen on phone, he noticed the car trailing them from the Abacha road junction at Mararaba, following which he alerted his boss, but before he could speed off, the car overtook them made a u-turn in front of the former Commissioner's residence and blocked their passage.
He said he was alerted by the speed with which the car overtook them, and was further confused when the Honda car made a sharp u-turn in front of his boss' house, but summoned courageand denied that Bwala was on board his car when confronted by the suspected assailant. He told the hostile looking visitor that they were also visitors to Bwala's house and having seen them turn, they assumed he was not around.
Hassan said he made refused approaching the gate on sensing danger, that was why he also turned, and when he saw one of the occupants of the Honda car, who was wearing only vest rushed to the his side callin g the commissioners name, he quickly answered to prevent his boss from answering his name. He saidBwala pretended not to be the one sitting by as his side, as the people did not seem to know him physically.
Even when it was reported to the other two still in the Honda car, that it was not Inuwa Bwala, they did not believe and continued blocking the way out, as Inuwa Bwala's house is on a close, Hassn explained.
Before they could come out of their vehicle, Bwala's driver attempted to rush into their vehicle and they made way for him to drive off and fled his house. On returning to the house later, the assailants returned at around 1;30 Am, and tried to scale Inuwa Bwala's fence, but for the resistance from his two dogs.
Inuwa Bwala also told newsmen is his statement, that he watched the return trip of the assailants and 1:28 to about 2:00 am, from his hidingplace by an overhead water tank inside his house where he took refuge, after sneaking from the room on hearing the howlingfrom his dogs.
He corroborated the narrations of his driver and one other person who was with him in the car during the first encounter, saying, people have noticed the presence of a dark green Honda by the last turn to his house for the past three days before the incidence, and his wife had lodged a complaint with the Abacha Road Police outpost.