FCT polls: APC member killed, PDP chieftain’s house set ablaze in Abuja

A member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Iliyasu Sani, has been allegedly stabbed to death by suspected thugs at Sheda community in the Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Also, a house of a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Sheda, was burnt down by suspected political thugs.

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Daily Trust learnt that an APC youth leader in Sheda, Aminu Saleh, who sustained a head injury during a clash between supporters of the APC and PDP at the community was receiving treatment at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada.

A resident of Sheda, simply identified as Yakubu, said the incident happened around 7;47: pm on Tuesday when a clash broke out between some supporters of the two major political parties in the area.

He claimed that some supporters of the APC at the community were celebrating the victory of the chairman of the council, Danladi Chiya, who won re-election during Saturday’s council election, during which some suspected thugs attacked and stabbed Iliyasu with a knife.

“It was after they (APC) members has finished celebrating the victory of the chairman at about 7:47 pm and were going back to their houses, in which Iliyasu, an APC member was stabbed with a knife instantly by one Emos,” he alleged.

An APC youth leader in Sheda, Saleh Aminu, while narrating the incident to our reporter at his hospital bed, claimed: “I was saying ‘did you guys want to kill him [Ilyasu]’ but before I realized what was happening, one of them brought a big plank and hit me on my forehead and I fell down,” he said.

Daily Trust further gathered that angered by the death of the APC member, some suspected thugs allegedly set the PDP chieftain’s house in the community ablaze in revenge.

Our reporter, who visited the community at about 8;32am on Wednesday, observed as smoke was still billowing from the burnt PDP chieftain’s house, while two police Hilux vans conveying policemen arrived at the scene.

The PDP chieftain, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim, while speaking with our reporter through telephone, said he has had reported the incident at the Gwagwalada police area command.

“As I speak to you, I have gone to the police area command in Gwagwalada to write a statement about the incident,” he said.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the FCT police command, DSP Adeh Josephine, did not pick up calls or reply to messages sent to her to confirm the incident.