John  Adams, Minna

The political tension in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State took a different dimension, on Wednesday night, following the abduction of the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdullahi Maje, by gunmen.

Abdullahi Maje fell into the hands of the gunmen, said to be five in number, and suspected to be kidnappers, on his way home from a political meeting ahead of the House of Representatives primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) slated for Thursday.

The gunmen, who were said to had trailed him from the venue of the meeting, blocked his official car he was driving in and forced him into another vehicle before whisking him to an unknown destination.

The kidnappers have not made any contact with family nor placed any ransom on him as at the time of filing this reports.

The kidnap of the local government boss came a few hours to the House of Representatives primary election of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the area.

In the last two days, tension had been high in the council as supporters of the two leading APC Aspirants for Suleja/Tafa/Gurara Federal constituency  engaged one another in a bloody clash.

The incumbent, Alhaji Lado Abubakar, and Ado Abubakar, are two strong contenders for sole of the party ticket for House of Representatives.

When the two rival supporters came face to face, on Sunday, while on campaign tour of the area, three people were confirmed dead and not less than 15 people were injured while about 13 vehicles damaged in a clash between the two.

It was believed that the kidnap of the local government chairman could be linked to the primary election as he was suspected to be sympathetic to the aspiration of one of the aspirants.

Both the state party executive and the government have kept seal lips over the political tension in the area as neither the party officials nor the government officials were ready speak on the matter.

The Niger State Police Command has also refused to make any categorical statement on the matter.

However, a high ranking officer from the Suleja Area Command, when contacted, declined to confirm the incident unofficially, saying “You know I cannot talk to you officially. We have our mouthpiece in the command. Please go to him.”

He, therefore, directed our correspondent to the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, CSP Abubakar Mohammed, who refused to pick his calls after several attempts.