Politicians accuse police of snatching ballot boxes in Gombe

Police in Gombe State have been accused of conniving with thugs to snatch ballot boxes at Dan Daura polling unit in Gombe metropolis.
A domestic observer for Gombe Local Government Area, Alhaji Haruna Falalu, said a few minutes into the voting, thugs came and disrupted the exercise.

Falalu said, “on hearing this, police came in their vehicles and took away the ballot boxes. The police told us to be calm and that there is every possibility that INEC will come and voting will continue. The police then went away with the ballot boxes”.
Secretary, media committee of the APC gubernatorial candidate, Kabiru Ibn Muhammad said the Dan Daura polling unit case was just one out of the many cases of ballot box snatching in Gombe State.
He said members of his party are peace loving people and cannot involve in any form of violence.
“From our research, it is obvious that the APC is far ahead of the ruling party, that is why they are mobilizing thugs to disrupt the process. We have seen thugs recruited by PDP moving from one polling unit to the other with dangerous weapons and snatching ballot boxes.  At Sarkin Dabai polling unit in Dawaki ward, I saw one of the governor’s aides giving money to voters”, he said.
When contacted, the Gombe State police spokesman, DSP Fwaje Atajiri, described the accusation as baseless, saying that police cannot involve in such.