Gun Battle at Raqlly: 4 killed as shooting disrupts Shekarau’s Maiduguri campaign

The North-east presidential rally of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, rescheduled for Tuesday in Maiduguri was disrupted mid-day as gunshots from a nearby filling station caused pandemonium at the Ramat Square venue of the event, leading to stampede. Daily Sun gathered that the gunmen, suspected to be armed robbers, had attacked a popular filling station behind the Ramat Square at about noon.  

“They came on two motorcycles and started shooting, forcing everybody to lie down. Two of them then proceeded to the cashier’s table and carted away all our income for the day and thereafter left on same motorcycles,” an attendant told Daily Sun on condition of anonymity, an hour after the incident.

Eyewitness said the gunmen had continued shooting as they fled the filling station, a development that prompted the anti-riot policemen stationed around the Ramat Square to give them a chase and then exchanged fire. Expectedly, the gunshots caused pandemonium while the large crowd hurriedly dispersed.

“Unfortunately stray bullet from the gunmen hit a man along the way,” another eyewitness disclosed.
While the pandemonium was go on, another gang of gunmen invaded Gwange, a rustic community in the metropolis, and attacked a textile shop located along the Ahamadu Bello Way, killing three persons. The gunmen were said to have come to the area on two motorcycles.  

Daily Sun visited the accident and emergency unit of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) where the corpses of the deceased were being examined. Efforts to ascertain the numbers of injured persons were unsuccessful as hospital attendants and medical personnel at the accident and emergency unit prevented journalists from gaining access to the area.

Meanwhile the police said they had foiled attempts by the Boko Haram men to detonate bomb at the venue of the ANPP rally on Tuesday.
Assisstant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operation, Adamu Zakari, who briefed journalists on behalf of the Borno command said three occupants of a Honda car were intercepted at the West End Roundabout, few metres from the Ramat Square, venue of the rally on Tuesday afternoon.

“Our men were on the stop and search exercise and the Honda car was stopped like every other vehicles but as soon as they saw our men coming to search their car, they took to their heels. So, we chased them and in the process, killed one. One of them was also arrested while the third one fled,” he edisclosed.
Zakari maintained that the police had reasons to believe that the men were out to bomb the ANPP rally, adding that the men were members of Boko Haram. The police also showed the locally made bombs to journalists with the arrested suspect and the corpse of the one killed.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abdullahi Lawal, an ASP, told journalists at about 8 p.m. on Tuesday that the bomb suspect led a team of police detectives to an area within the metropolis where four other suspected Boko Haram members were arrested with two magazines of AK 47 rifles and pistol and 60 rounds of live ammunition.      
  
He assured that they were determined to safeguard the people during and after election even as they urged the people to participate actively in the voting while also conducting their daily activities without fear.
Reacting to the disruption of the rally, National Coordinator of Exemplary Leadership for Shekarau 2011, Alhaji Hassan Maimadara, told journalists in a telephone conversation that the ANPP presidential candidate had already decided not to attend the proposed rally, following the cancellation of the earlier one on March 24.  
“We decided not to come to Maiduguri rally because we heard that the state was not secured and also due to the fact that the ealier rally last week was sabotaged by Gov Ali Sheriff,” he declared adding that the party gathered the large crowd from different states in Maiduguri but were suddenly turned down.                   

-Sun

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Posted by admin on Mar 29 2011. Filed under Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry