JUST IN: 10 Killed, Scores Wounded In Fresh Southern Kaduna Attack

No fewer than 10 people have been confirmed dead in yet another new attack in the Langson community of Kaduna State’s Zango Kataf local government area, with scores of others suffering injuries of different severity.

The attack transpired despite the 24-hour curfew that was in place after last week’s attack and retaliation that left 17 people dead. It is believed to have taken place on Tuesday night up to the early hours of Wednesday morning in the impacted community.

The Atyap Community Development Association (ACDA) leadership, who acknowledged the most recent incident, has voted against the security personnel stationed in the region to safeguard people and property.

“Security officers posted to this Southern Kaduna are no longer guarding us,” claimed Mr. Sam Achie, the national president of the ACDA, “since this massacres have persisted for long and continued unabatedly and yet the government remains mum about it.”

Achie noted that it was troubling and cause for concern that the Kaduna State administration had remained silent about the area’s ongoing attacks when he visited the location of the attack.

He therefore asked the government to back up its words with deeds by apprehending the attackers because, in his opinion, the government knew who they were and where they resided.

The MOPOL detachment in the Langson community was however praised by the ACDA National President, who also urged the populace to continue to be vigilant in order to defend their homes and communities from oppressors who are determined to seize their ancestral lands and prevent other killings.

He revealed that several of the local hospitals were providing medical care to those hurt in the attack.

Mr. Francis Sani, the chairman of the Zango Kataf local government, who also verified the attack, called on the State government to send more security personnel to the LGA in order to stop the frequent attacks on innocent people and their property.

Around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, the attackers broke into the neighborhood and began shooting sporadically, killing some civilians and injured others before being driven back by the MOPOL.

As at the time this story was filed, Lt. Col. I.S. Takwa, the spokesperson for Operations Safe Haven, could not be reached for comment.

Crisis in Nasarawa Labour Party after party collapses structure for PDP Candidate Ombugadu – new faction emerges, tries to back APC

In past weeks, the Nasarawa State Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Joseph Ewuga, recently stepped down from the race to support his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, David Emmanuel Ombugadu.

Middle Belt Times gathered that Ewuga decided to step down in the interest of the growth of the state and the ‘popularity, general acceptance and track record of Ombugadu’.

However addressing journalists yesterday in Lafia, Rev. Angba Solomon Kuje, the LP’s candidate for the House of Representatives for Akwanga/Nasarawa Eggon/Wamba Federal Constituency in the just concluded National Assembly election, said the the party favoured Governor Sule instead and was quoted as saying the decision of the party to support Governor Sule was arrived at after a series of meetings and consultations.

He said the move by Mr. Ewuga to align with the PDP’s governorship candidate, was a personal one and not a collective party decision.

According to him, the party learnt about Ewuga’s move through the media.

He pointed out that party members had carefully evaluated each candidate from all political parties in the state based on their merits, strengths, and weaknesses with a view to backing only one of them to victory in the conviction that the task of running the state extends far beyond a single person, ethnicity, or religion.

He added that members considered a candidate’s aptitude, capacity, character, experience, temperament, and managerial exposure while deciding which candidate to support.

The ability to maintain the diverse ethnic groups in the state together as one giant family, regardless of religion or cultural background, was crucially examined.

According to him, after careful deliberation, the Labour Party had reached the unassailable conclusion that Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, the incumbent Governor and member of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), stands taller, bigger, better, and stronger and as such deserves its support in the gubernatorial elections on Saturday.

This is how we feel. This is where we all agree. Come Saturday, this is the way to go,” he stated.

PDP G-5 Govs Not Supporting Tinubu – Jang

Sen. Jonah Jang, a former governor of Plateau State and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said that the G5 PDP governors and their allies, including himself, do not endorse Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for president of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Jang continued by saying that Governor Simon Lalong, the director general of Tinubu’s campaign, was daydreaming when he claimed that the G-5 supported Tinubu.

According to a statement made in Jos by Jang’s media advisor Clinton Garuba, they have made it clear time and time again that they do not personally disagree with the PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar, but rather with the procedure that produced him and the structural imbalance that resulted.

The G-5, also known as the integrity group, disagreed with the PDP and withdrew support for its presidential candidate’s campaign, but this in no way implies that they are backing the APC’s presidential nominee, according to him.

“The attention of former Governor of Plateau State Senator Jonah David Jang has just been drawn to recent comments attributed to the Governor of Plateau State, Rt. Hon Simon Lalong at the flag-off of the APC campaign rally, held at Wase that the G5 PDP governors are supporting the APC presidential candidate.

“Only Lalong and his fellow dreamers think so and will stop at nothing to mislead the public in order to get favorable feedback for a bad product they so desperately want to sell.”

The comments, which aimed to criticize and paint the former governor of the state in a negative light as well as win favor with his chosen candidate and the APC, are described in the statement as nothing more than the final gasps of a dying horse.

Garuba noted that typically they would have dismissed the vituperations as the tantrums of a deeply dissatisfied individual who has assumed a difficult task of marketing a substandard product all in the quest to be relevant.

The former governor further said that his successor failed miserably in all areas, including basic infrastructure, healthcare, tourism, and education. He claimed that throughout his whole tenure as governor, the man did nothing to promote the welfare and wellbeing of his people.