APC Lawmaker Brutalised over Distribution of Relief Materials

Daji Sani in Yola

Drama unfolded at the Yola airport, Adamawa State, thursday when two lawmakers of All Progressives Congress (APC) exchanged verbal barbs over distribution of relief materials which led to one of them being stripped naked.

The fracas unfolded when the member representing Michika/Madagali federal constituency, Hon. Adamu Kamale, wanted to board a helicopter alongside Senator Abdulaziz Nyako who is the Chairman Committee on IDPs /NEMA in the Senate, and Air Commodore Ohemu who was assigned by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to supervise the delivery of the relief Materials to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Madagali but was stopped by the senator from boarding the helicopter.

Kamale, while narrating his ordeal, to journalists in Yola thursday, said it is unthinkable that relief materials would be shared in his constituency (Madagali) and he will not be represented but only to be assaulted when he made an effort to witness the distribution.

According to him, Following the incessant bomb blasts at Madagali Local Government Area, part of his constituency, he, the governor of Adamawa State, Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow, alongside other well-meaning Nigerians solicited for relief materials from NEMA to be distributed to IDPs in Madagali and he thought it wise that he witnessed the distribution.

“As the member representing the area, I personally called on the Director General of NEMA earlier on November 20 to ensure the delivery of the relief materials. Arrangements were also made and all the stakeholders, including Senator Abdulaziz Nyako to deliver the relief materials. Air Commodore Ohemu was assigned by NEMA to supervise the delivery.

“A helicopter was arranged by the air force to convey some of the stakeholders to where the materials were to be distributed on November 21 by 9 a.m. I was billed to travel on board the helicopter with Senator Nyako, Air Commodore Ohemu and others.

“To my utmost dismay, while I was to board the helicopter, Senator Nyako ordered that I should not be permitted to use the helicopter as he is the chairman of the delegation.

“All my efforts to draw the attention of the senator and the air force’s senior officer failed, and in the process the air force officer ordered his men on ground to assault my person and ordered them to put me in the guardroom.
“They tore up my dress and beat me and I sustained injuries from my forceful withdrawal from the helicopter.” he narrated.

He further explained that he has the mandate of the people of Madagali and Michika and has the constitutional rights and privileges to represent them anywhere in the constituency.

According to him, “The people of Madagali have suffered several attacks and have been traumatised for many years, as their representative, I have never seen Senator Nyako in Madagali commiserating with the people of the area over the several unfortunate incidences.

“I cannot explain this sudden monopoly of the senator on the federal government relief materials meant for the people of my constituency.”

He said as a matter of parliamentary rules, both the Senate and the House of Representatives holds each other in high esteem.

“It is clear therefore that the action of the senator contravenes the rules of the National Assembly, the involvement of senior air force officer is also unfortunate as the helicopter was not a private aircraft of Nyako, and as such, Commodore Ohemu deserves to be sanctioned in line with the dictates of the military laws.”

All attempts to get the reaction of Senator Nyako at the time of filing this report proved abortive as it was revealed that there is a political romance between Kamale and the incumbent governor of the state who has been at logger heads with former Governor Murtala Nyako, the father of the senator which was the reason behind the disagreement.

According to the loyalists of the senator, since Kamale was aligning with the governor, he had no business getting engaged in the senator’s activities, whether personal or otherwise.