April 11 Elections: Council Chief Assaulted Me, Gombe District Head Alleges

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, April 14, (THEWILL) – A District Head in Gombe State, Alhaji Saleh Tinka, has alleged that he was assaulted by a Council Chairman in the state during last Saturday's elections.

Tinka who is a District Head of Bodor in Funakaye Local Government Area of the state accused his Local Government Chairman, Mohammed Usman Ribadu, of assaulting him during the elections.

Making the allegation at a media briefing in Gombe on Tuesday, Tinka accused the Local Government Chairman and a prominent son of the area and former member representing Gombe-Kwami-Funakaye constituency at the House of Representatives, Abubakar Bidi, of assaulting him at Bodor.

According to Tinka, “I was at the polling unit to cast my vote, when someone drew my attention to what was happening at the polling unit, when a particular individual came with seven different permanent voter cards, seeking accreditation. I immediately said that cannot happen because it was wrong to do so. I reminded him that the law permits only one PVC per individual.”

Explaining further, Tinka said an aide of the Local Government Chairman secretly called the Chairman on phone and on arriving the scene, the Chairman, Mohammed Usman Ribadu rushed him (the District Head), grabbed him by the neck and tore his cloth

“The Local Government Chairman came with some thugs and Abubakar Bidi. They all mobilised to push me into a vehicle they came with but I resisted. Only God knows where they wanted to take me to and what they could have done to me had they succeed in taking me away,” Tinka explained.

The District Head alleged that the thugs who came to take him away were wielding guns and other dangerous weapons, saying he was beaten to a pulp as his subjects watched helplessly.

Tinka however said he was yet to report the matter to the Police but as he was still consulting with his subjects on his next line of action.

Reacting to the allegations, the Local Government Chairman, Ribadu, said there was no truth in the allegation.

According to Ribadu, “When I saw the District Head, I asked if he had cast his vote, he answered yes. So I offered to take him home in my car but he declined. I was only trying to help prevent trouble in my capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the Local Government.”

On his part, the former federal lawmaker, Abubakar Bidi, refused to comment on the matter.