About 12 people die in Taraba as PDP and APC supporters clash over tribunal ruling

ABOUT 12 people have died in political clashes in Wukari in Taraba State as supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fought over the recent election tribunal ruling that named Senator Aisha Alhassan governor.

 

On Saturday, the election appeals tribunal sitting in Abuja declared Senator Aisha Alhassan as the duly elected governor of Taraba State.  After the April 11 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) had declared Darius Ishaku of the PDP as the winner of the Taraba State governorship contest but Senator Alhasan rejected the result and lodged a suit with the election appeals tribunal claiming the polls were marred with irregularities.

 

Having been declared the winner, senator Alhassan is due to be sworn in this week as governor but the development has not gone down well with PDP supporters. On Saturday night supporters of both parties clashed in Wukari resulting in several people sustaining varying degrees of injuries, while properties worth millions of naira, including houses and vehicles, were destroyed.

 

Joseph Kwaji, a spokesman for the Taraba State Police Command, said the situation had now been brought under control by a combined team of police and soldiers drafted to the town. Although he declined to disclose the number of casualties recorded in the crisis, Henry Audu, an indigene of the town, said that at least 12 people were lost in the clash.

 

Mr Kwaji said: “The crisis started last Saturday night when some APC supporters were going round celebrating the judgment of the tribunal and they had a clash with PDP supporters. The situation has been brought under control by the prompt intervention of the combined team of police and soldiers drafted to the town and normalcy has returned to the area. "

 

However, Mr Audu added: “The sound of sporadic gunshots rented the air at about 1am and later escalated to several parts of the town. At about 3.30 am, the gunshots subsided but resumed again at about 7am when people were preparing to go to church.”

 

In its judgement, the tribunal had ruled that Mr Ishaku was not validly nominated as the PDP gubernatorial candidate and subsequently declared Senator Alhassan governor. Since then, however, Mr Ishaku has enjoined the people of the state to remain calm and law abiding while he explores legitimate means to recover the mandate freely given to him.

 

He urged the people of the state not to take laws into their own hands and remain peaceful, stressing that he has directed security agencies to deal with anybody or group that tries to breach the peace of the state. Since the judgement, the PDP has condemned the ruling as being representative of executive interference in the judiciary.