Teachers killed by suspected political thugs in Bauchi
A school teacher was beaten to death on Wednesday in Bauchi by suspected political thugs, amid concerns about the rising wave of political violence in the state.
The Bauchi state police command confirmed the teacher's death but could not give details on his identity.
The police public relations officer, Mallam Alhassan Guga, told journalists yesterday in Bauchi that the teacher was attacked by some political thugs who apparently mistook him for a police officer.
Guga said that the thugs, armed with clubs and machetes, beat the man to death at the Nasarawa-Jahun quarters in the Bauchi metropolis.
He said that the corpse of the deceased had been deposited at the mortuary of the Bauchi Specialist Hospital.
He, however, denied the speculations that the deceased was a police officer, saying that investigations into the incident were still ongoing.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that two suspected political thugs were killed and many others wounded in separate clashes between PDP and ANPP supporters in the state.
Meanwhile, the state police commissioner, Alhaji Aminu Yesufu, Thursday warned the governorship candidates of the two political parties about the wave of political violence in the state.
Yesufu, who invited the candidates to a meeting, noted that the violence in the state had become a source of concern to the police.
He warned that the police would deal decisively with any parties or candidates found to be harbouring thugs.
Yesufu reiterated that the police was determined to ensure a peaceful conduct of the April elections and charged all the political parties to disband their groups of thugs.
The PDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Nadada Umar, and his ANPP counterpart, Mallam Isa Yuguda, pledged to collaborate with the police in stemming violent activities, ahead of the elections.
``We will never foster violence through the use of thugs and we shall do everything to stamp out the menace,'' Nadada said.
Besides, Yuguda said that he had trained about 2,000 youths in various trades and skills, as a way of reducing youth unemployment and discouraging thuggery.
He pledged to work closely with his PDP counterpart to promote peace and harmony in the state.