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John Adams, Minna
No fewer than two people were killed when two rival political groups clashed along Minna-Bida road ahead of the rescheduled local government election slated for November this year in Niger state.
The two groups are believed to be supporters of rival Chairmanship aspirants of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) billed to contest the forthcoming local government poll for Katcha local government council. The incident occurred along the Minna- Bida road on Thursday when the aspirants were returning from Minna, the state capital where they had gone to collect their nomination forms.
An eyewitness who was at the scene of the clash, gave the name of one of the deceased as Nda – Bida and was said to be a supporter of one of the aspirants, Alhaji Danjuma Emindachi.
It was not immediately known what ignited the clash, the eyewitness however said the supporters of one of the aspirants whose name was given as Alhaji Musa Ishyaku ran into his counterpart at the river Gbako bridge along Minna-Bida road where the incident occurred.
The eyewitness said dangerous weapons including cutlasses and daggers were freely used by members of both groups resulting in the death of Nda- Bida and injury of many others. The identity of the second deceased person could not be established as at the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the state chairman of the party Alhaji Jibrin Imam confirmed the story describing the incident as “a criminal matter” which is already being handled by the police. “It is a criminal issue, our party is not involved, the police is handling the matter”, Jibrin Imam declared.
Also contacted, the state Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Muhammad Abubakar confirmed the story saying “one person is in our custody in connection with the incident. We are already investigating the matter”. Abubakar therefore appealed to members of the registered political parties in the state to play the game according to the rules during and after the local government election.
