***Amidst Promises To Arrest Insecurity, Resume Oil Exploration In Chad Basin
By: Ali Musa Biu-Maiduguri
Hired thugs, armed with dangerous weapons nearly disrupted activities lined up for the flag off of the Presidential campaigns of the Peoples Democratic party, PDP in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
Reports indicate that, over 70 people have been wounded in the ensuing violence, unleashed on the PDP supporters, with over 100 vehicles vandalized.
Our correspondent reports that, hundreds of armed thugs way laid the PDP supporters on their way to the Shehu’ of Borno’s palace, causing pandemonium.
Atikus followers fled in different directions, some if them abandoning their vehicles, as the rampaging youths advanced on their convoy.
Spokesman of the PDP Presidential Council, Dino Melaye has pointed accusing fingers at the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC 8n the state, as the mastermind of the violence.
But the Police in Maiduguri denied any such attack on the convoy of the Presidential candidate
Police spokesman in the strate, Kamil Shatamba, ASP, told newsmen that, while there was an attempt by some hoodlums to disturb the conviy on airport road, one if the thugs has been arrested and is being quizzed by the police.
He denied any direct attack on Atiku’s convoy, stressing that Police provided enough security and the even was successful.
He equally querried claims by the spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Dino Melaye, that 74 people were wounded in the fracas.
Meanwhile, Presidential standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar has promised to Halt the menace of Boko Haram in the Northeast as one sure way at ensuring the resumption of oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin.
Speaking at a rally in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, before a mammoth crowd that thronged the Ramat square fir the rally, the firmer Vice President said he is determined to address the general insecurity in the country, particularly in the North East, so that the rich oil resources of the region could be adequately harnessed.
He said the Shehu of Borno had earlier told him about the need to resume the oil exploration in the Lake Chad region, which was disrupted by the eleven years of insurgency, and he is inclined at doing so, if elected as President in 2023.
Atiku Abubakar told the gathering that, besides the issue of insecurity in the country, his presidency will also address the declining economic fortunes of Nigeria as well as alleviating the sufferings of the citizenry.
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