FALEKE, BELLO SUPPORTERS CLASH IN ABUJA ON KOGI POLL (NIGERIA)

There was an outbreak of violence at the National Secretariat of
the All Progressives Congress between supporters of Yahaha Bello
and James Faleke, today,

Monday.
Stones, sticks and other missiles were freely thrown by thugs who
broke through Police barricades in an attempt to force their way
into the party headquarters.
As the clashes progressed, party leaders were meeting behind
closed doors on the crisis over the choice of a replacement for the
late Abubakar Audu.
Although, what triggered the violence was still sketchy as of the
time of filing this report, it was learnt that a verbal altercation
between two rival supporters led to a free for all.
Several vehicles were vandalised and no fewer than five persons
were injured, some policemen assisted in carrying one of the badly
injured person to an undisclosed health facility.
Police reenforcements were later brought in to restore order.
The meeting of the party leaders, members of the National Working
Committee and the two contenders for the governorship ticket,
Yahaya Bello and James Faleke was still on as of 4:20pm.
Those at the meeting included: Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-
Rufai, Senators Dino Melaye and Mohammed Ohiare and members
of the John 0digie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee.
Others at the meeting included some members of the Kogi State
House of Assembly.
An angry party leader who pleaded not to be mentioned because of
the sensitivity of the matter blamed the party leadership for the
crisis.
He said, “We could have handled this better. Why didn’t we call the
two men together earlier? Why would you decide on a candidate
before calling a meeting of the two parties?
“If you are Faleke, how will you feel when you first read about the
party’s decision in the papers before the party calls you for
discussions? There should be some respect for crying out loud.