Adamawa State deputy governor Bala Ngilari yesterday said assassins were after him, following weekend’s attack on his country home and the abduction of his daughter in Abuja on Tuesday night.
He spoke in Yola on the day the police authorities in Gombe paraded three persons, including a dismissed police constable, accused of attempting to assassinate the Gombe State deputy governor Tha’anda Rubainu.
Ngilari told journalists at his residence in Yola yesterday that unknown attackers were on the prowl wanting to kill him but said he did not know why.
His Midlu country home in Madagali Local Government Area was on April 6 attacked by unidentified gunmen who killed two of his private guards and a personal aide. Eleven other people were killed in the attack on Midlu village.
Ngilari said the gunmen used a Toyota Hilux van and a Volkswagen Golf car for the operation.
“This is not Boko Haram, somebody is on the prowl and I am the target, they want to assassinate me,” he said.
“Yesterday (Tuesday) some men went to my house in Abuja round 7.30p.m where they kidnapped my 15-year-old daughter and tormented her, asking her of my whereabouts.
“The men after interrogating my daughter and were sure she did not know my whereabouts, they drove her round Abuja and later pushed her out of the car after arguing among themselves on what to do with her.”
Ngilari said while pushing her out one of them told her in Hausa language that they would catch up with her father in Jos. He said there was an upcoming wedding ceremony of his niece in Jos next week.
“Clearly, no doubt about it, they are looking for me,” he said.
Ngilari said he had reported the matter to the relevant authorities and that he relied on God for protection.
When asked if the suspected assassination attempt was connected to a political feud with certain Adamawa politicians, Ngilari said he did not have any quarrel with anybody.
“I am not at loggerheads with anybody. I did not lobby for the present deputy governor position that I am holding, therefore God has been merciful to my life entirely,” he said. “To me, no ambition can make somebody to hate me. I am not a threat to anybody.”
Though Ngilari said he reported the matter to the “relevant authorities”, the Federal Capital Territory police command said it was not aware of the kidnap of his daughter.
Commissioner of Police Femi Ogunbayode told Daily Trust by telephone last night: “We have checked with police division in Asokoro and a number of houses including the Adamawa State Liaison Office but we could not confirm the matter. The case was not reported to us.”
‘Rubainu targetted’
In Gombe, the state police command yesterday paraded a woman and two men who were accused of being part of a plot to assassinate Deputy Governor Tha’anda Rubainu.
One of the suspects was a police constable but has now been dismissed from force.
State Police Commissioner Mohammed I. Sule gave the names of the suspects as Deborah Amos, Benjamin Bukar Mailafiya and Luke Godswill who were of various addresses in Gombe metropolis.
He said investigation so far showed that they were hired for N3 million to assassinate the deputy governor.
Sule said Godswill, who was a police constable serving at the command, has now been dismissed from the force and is in custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Deborah Amos, a girlfriend of prime suspect Mailafiya, leaked the plot, while Godswill attempted to see the deputy governor in a bid to extort him for supplying information on the assassination plot.
Security men denied Constable Godswill access to the deputy governor, and arrested him. He was found culpable after an investigation and was therefore dismissed from the force, the police commissioner said.
Sule said the assassination plotters were looking for those they could recruit for the assignment and this was why Mailafiya revealed it to his girlfriend Deborah.
The police commissioner said dismissed constable Godswill has been sending him threat text messages in a bid to secure re-instatement in the force. In one of such texts, Godswill allegedly threatened that the wrath of the Inspector General of Police would reach the commissioner unless he reinstated the dismissed cop.
The commissioner said Deputy Governor Rubainu has been briefed about the foiled assassination plot.

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