Gunmen attack Useni’s Langtang home

The Langtang home of former FCT minister, retired Lt General Jeremiah Useni, was attacked yesterday by unidentified gunmen who left scores of bullet marks all over the building.

Witnesses said the armed men stormed the compound early yesterday, surrounded the building and shot several times at it.

Gen Useini said he was not in Langtang, but that he had been told of the attack.

A source close to him attributed the attack to a lingering row over the handling of the local government election that took place in Plateau State in February in which Useini’s Democratic People’s Party (DPP) played a prominent role.

“I have just gone to see the house,” the source said, adding, “Yes, the attack is real, and the cause is easy to guess. I think the attackers want to show that the anomaly that has been perpetuated must be allowed to remain”.

Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) which conducted the council election had rejected the result of one of the wards in Langtang North on the explanation that the result of Jat ward reached it late. It announced the intention for a re-run in the ward but a court stopped it. The same court vacated its injunction earlier this month and threw out the case.

In the election, DPP had more votes than the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) without the Jat Ward, but with the Jat Ward’s initially unannounced result, PDP had the slight win. When the court vacated the injunction against the Jat Ward re-run, the DPP asked for the earlier promised re-run, but the initially undeclared Jat Ward result was added and the PDP candidate was declared winner and sworn in as the Langtang North council chairman. The polity in Langtang North has remained tense since then.

Confirming the attack on Gen Useini’s house, the Plateau State police spokesman, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, said no arrest had been made and nobody was injured.