by Musa Abdullahi
Agency France-Presses bureau chief in Nigeria, Phil Hazlewood is repotting an attack on a polling Unit in Gombe State, Northern Nigeria as Nigerians get accredited to vote for presidential and Legislative offices.
At least two people were killed in a suspected Boko Haram attack on polling stations in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, residents and an election official told AFP.
The attacks happened in the villages of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani in the Nafada district of Gombe state, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamists.
An election official, who requested anonymity, said: “We could hear the gunmen shouting, ‘Didn’t we warn you about staying away from (the) election?’”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Suspected Boko Haram attack at polling stations in Gombe state kills two <a href=”https://twitter.com/AFP”>@afp</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NigeriaDecides?src=hash”>#NigeriaDecides</a></p>— Phil Hazlewood (@philhazlewood) <a href=”https://twitter.com/philhazlewood/status/581780567919890432″>March 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Gunmen shouted: "Didn't we warn you about staying away from the election?" @afp #NigeriaDecides #Gombe
— Phil Hazlewood (@philhazlewood) March 28, 2015
NewsWireNGR recalls that Boko Haram had invaded the restive northeastern Nigerian city of Gombe on Saturday, 14, February and warned residents against voting in today’s elections as the Islamists defied regional force aiming to pursue them.
Residents said the attackers later left the city and stormed another area some 40 kilometres (25 miles) away, where they burned homes.
The violence prompted the state governor to impose an around-the-clock curfew. Again the terrorists are back to the state to stop the people from exercising their franchise..
The Boko Haram fighters called on residents to boycott elections which had originally been planned to take place on Saturday before they were postponed until March 28.
“Whoever professes Islam should distance himself from polling stations because we are going to attack polling booths,” read the Boko Haram leaflets.
Residents said the gunmen in military uniforms who invaded the city in around 30 vans and on several motorcycles later withdrew from the city unchallenged.
“They moved out of the city on their own free will and are now in Dakin-Kowa town,” resident Bello Jatau said, referring to an area around 40 kilometres away.
He said fleeing residents of Dadin-Kowa were taking refuge on hilltops from where they could see Boko Haram gunmen burning their homes.
Details of the casualties following the attacks not yet known as at the time of filling this report..
