THREE persons have been arraigned at Magistrate Court 11 in Bauchi for allegedly vandalising properties at the campaign office of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) governorship candidate in the state, Ambassador Shu’aibu Ahmed Adamu.
The accused persons are, Bashir Ahmed, Imrana Abubakar and Elisha Andrew according to the Police First Information Report (FIR) presented to the Court by Sergeant Lano Salihu committed the offence in the early hours of 31st December 2018.
According to the FIR, the suspects arrived the scene in an unmarked vehicle painted in the colour of another political party, destroyed Billboards of the NNPP candidate and broke glasses at the campaign office located at Bauchi GRA behind Zaranda Hotel and later abandoned the vehicle at the scene of the crime.
The Police Prosecutor told the court that, the damage done by the suspects was valued at N250,000 adding that, the offence committed by the accused is contrary to Section 96 and 327 of the Penal Code.
He urged the Court to compel the accused persons to pay for the properties they destroyed at the NNPP candidate campaign secretariat and order the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), GRA Police Station to transfer the custody of the alleged crime Vehicle to the Court.
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The three suspects pleaded not guilty while their defence counsel, Barrister Abubakar Sadiq Idris applied for the bail of the three accused persons and objected to the transfer of the vehicle to be in the Court’s custody as it has not been tendered as evidence.
The Presiding Magistrate, Amina Garba ordered the Vehicle to remain in Police custody until it is tendered as evidence and denied the accused lawyer’s application for bail and adjourned the case to January 15th, 2019 for hearing just as the suspects are also to be remanded in prison custody until the adjourned date.
Meanwhile, as campaign activities towards the 2019 general elections hot up, the governorship candidate of the main opposition party is Nigeria Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has alleged that his supporters are being constantly harassed and arbitrarily arrested by the Police in the state on the orders of the ruling APC in the State .
The PDP Guber candidate disclosed this while addressing Journalists after securing the release of some of his supporters arrested at a PDP office along Gombe road adding that his campaign billboards are being pulled down daily by yet to be identified hoodlums.
Bala Muhammad also said that, the orchestrated plot was a ploy by the ruling APC to intimidate his supporters prior to the general elections just as he added that the alleged complicity of the Police in the indiscriminate arrest on the orders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in the state is threatening the Peace Accord recently signed by all the governorship candidates including the incumbent Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar.
“We know all their antics and we will not condone this. In Bauchi, there is an effort by Governor Mohammed Abubakar in cohort with the Police to clamp down on our supporters on trump up charges. This is just the beginning. But we are law-abiding and we have reported the cases to all relevant security agencies including the police and the Department of Security Services (DSS),” he alleged.
According to him, such actions being taken by the ruling APC against the opposition particularly the PDP negates the provisions of the peace accord signed by the candidates to ensure a peaceful campaign and elections in the state.
While reacting to the allegations, the State APC Organising Secretary, Lawan Gyan-Gyan dismissed the allegation as baseless and a trademark of the PDP governorship candidate.
On his part, Bauchi State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Kamal Datti Abubakar said that the Police are only carrying out their constitutional mandate of keeping law and order.
He said that the Police has the power to arrest anybody who breaks the law whether he belongs to the opposition or the ruling party.
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