The Gombe state secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party was on Tuesday morning set ablaze by some suspected political thugs.
The PDP office which is situated along Gombe/Bauchi expressway as well as Atiku House were both set on fire damaging documents, chairs and other valuables.
A supporter of the party, Muntari Kulsi, explained that the office was set on fire at about 1:30 am, stressing that the secretariat was in about 1:20 am before he left the office.
He said revealed that the suspected hoodlums are members of the All Progressives Congress, noting that it would be incomprehensible for both offices to be affected at the same time when they are not closely situated.
Kulsi said, “The source is All Progressives Congress and its people. Both offices that are about four kilometres away from each other cannot naturally catch fire at once”.
“Our guys here saw the thugs, they came in three cars with several weapons, the security guard stationed at the office was overpowered by the thugs and had to run for their lives.”
According to him, while men of the fire service close to the office tried to contain the fire, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the Pantami division played useful roles.
He said, “We are just waiting for our leaders to decide on what to do, but we all knew people that did this and we go after them”.
However, efforts made to reach Muritala Usman, Publicity Secretary of the party as at the time of filing this report proved abortive.
Observations by our correspondent indicated that the PDP would initiate a protest to seek justice, while also, the Atiku Campaign Organization is set to address the public on its resolve.
Reacting to the allegation, Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Moses Kyari said the party has no hand in the destruction of the PDP secretariat and campaign office in the state, adding that their office was also affected.
He revealed that their office was attacked earlier by those he said were identified by the Closed-Circuit Camera.
Kyari said, “There is a tiny line with what transpired. Our own office was also burnt at about 12 midnight and as the act was been done, we have footages of who carried out the attack.
“Their own office they claim was burnt around 2 am by unknown people, possibly members of the PDP. But for us, we have video clips of who burnt our office and we have presented them to the police. The APC has no hand in the burning of their state secretariat.”
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