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John Adams, Minna
The Niger State police command has said it is yet to make any arrest in connection with the attack on the residence of the APC senatorial candidate for Niger East senatorial district in the just-concluded general election by gunmen suspected to be assassins.
The gunmen which the security men on guard said they could not ascertain their number, in the wee hours of Saturday, attacked the residence of APC’s senatorial candidate in the 2019 elections, Sani Musa, aka 313.
The Police Public Relation Officer of the command, DSP Mohammed Abubakar said in Minna on Monday that the police were on top of the situation as everything was being done to track the attackers. The police PRO pointed out that he could not say what was the motive of the armed men was, adding that the police got to the scene of the incidence after they had fled.
The heavily-armed men who were said to have stormed Sani Musa’s residence located at the old Alheri hospital, off NITECO road, Minna, rounded up the security men on duty before making their way into the house.
The attackers’ main target, Sani Musa, was away to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajji when the attack happened.
According to the two security personnel on duty when the attack occurred at about 1:00am, the attackers were carrying sophisticated weapons, including AK47 riffles.
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They were said to have disarmed the security personnel, ceased their weapons and tied them somewhere behind the mosque building in the house, before breaking the doors to the main parlour.
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The vigilante security personnel said their lives were threatened by the gunmen who pointed guns at them and warned them not to make any counter move.
“They put a gun to my head and said if I tried to make any funny move, they would blow off my head,” one of them said.
The operation, they said, lasted for more than two hours as they left the residence around 3:00am when Muslims were about to observe their early morning prayers.
Although there was no casualty, the gunmen according to the security personnel, spent over two hours ransacking various parts of the house, an indication that they were looking for documents.
“After we were disarmed and tied hand-and-leg, they kept us behind the mosque. One of them stood with us, while the remaining two went inside. They spent more than two hours inside. We heard them breaking the doors to the gain access. We also heard them throwing things around as if they were looking for something. It took them hours before they came out.
“What we saw in their hands were the television and some papers. We don’t know if they took other things,” the vigilante personnel narrated.
Explaining further, the vigilante personnel said after the operation, the armed men forced the back gate open and went through it instead of using the front gate they entered from.
Meanwhile Sani Musa is currently in Saudi Arabia alongside his wife to perform the lesser Hajj and could not be reached for his reaction.
Sani Musa won the election in Niger East senatorial district at the 2019 polls after a Federal High Court sacked David Umaru from the election on the ground that he did not win the APC’s primaries.
However, following an Appeal by Umaru, the judgment was overturned, and is currently before the Supreme Court. Ruling on the matter is billed to take place on June 14.
