Bandits Kill Three PDP Delegates in Niger

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Three unnamed delegates of the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election in Minna, Niger State, as well as one other person were last Wednesday killed by gunmen.

The deceased delegates were in Minna along with 10 others before the primary election was postponed till yesterday, and were returning to their local government area of Mariga to collect their identification materials when the incident occurred.

The incident occurred between Mariga and Tegina towns, according to the report.

It was learnt that the vehicle in which the delegates were traveling on ran into an ambulance by the gunmen, and during sporadic shooting, the four people were hit by bullets and died.

The Chairman of the PDP Primary Election Committee and Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, confirmed the incident in an announcement when the election recommenced yesterday.

Ewhurdjako asked for a minute silence to be observed for the deceased before also allowing a replacement for them from their local government area after consultation with stakeholders.

One of the delegates who escaped, Shehu Haruna, narrated how the incident happened, saying: “We left Minna in the

late hours when PDP postponed the governorship primaries to Thursday, and as we were returning home to get our means of identification we ran into bandits who opened fire on our vehicle. Though we were able to escape since the driver was not hit, however, four people died instantly.”

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Umar, promised to confirm the story and get back to THISDAY, but did not do so until the time of filing this report.

Also, the police could not be reached to confirm the story.