Police invite Kano ALGON chairperson after allegedly ordering her orderly to sh0ot factory workers

Police invite Kano ALGON chairperson after allegedly ordering her orderly to shoot factory workers

The Kano State Police Command has invited the chairperson of Tudunwada Local Government Council, Sa’adatu Salisu, after allegedly leading thugs to attack factory workers in the area.

DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the Tasarrufi General Enterprise factory of workers reported the council chair, who doubles as the chairperson of the Kano branch of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, to the command headquarters in Bompai for allegedly ordering thugs to attack them with machetes and her orderly to open fire on them.

Spokesman for Kano Police Command, Abdullahi Kiyawa, said police had commenced investigation into the matter and sent invitations to all those involved, including the embattled council boss.

“There is a formal complaint against the ALGON chairperson. All the witnesses and the suspect have been invited. The orderly to the ALGON chairperson has also been recalled to the command to give account of the matter,” Mr Kiyawa added.

The artisans alleged that the ALGON chairperson led thugs to attack them with weapons, and allegedly ordered her orderly to shoot at them, leaving many injured.

Narrating the incident to this newspaper, Suyudi Umar, the manager of the company, said Mrs Salisu, on Thursday, August 28, came to the company’s site, alongside the contractor of a road construction project at the Tudunwada town, querying him on why he failed to vacate the site.

The manager alleged that the ALGON chairperson insisted that he should move his factory away from its original location, bragging that as a local government chairperson, she could do whatever she wanted in the town.

Mr Umar alleged that Mrs Salisu, while disagreeing with the project engineer, she reprimanded him for telling her that the factory was not within the road construction area.

He also alleged that after leaving the place, she returned to the factory around 5pm with thugs, numbering over 200 brandishing dangerous weapons and started attacking his staff.

“This is the fourth time Sa’adatu is coming to my factory. Despite the fact that the project engineer had explained to her that our factory was not covered in the project affected areas, she insisted that we should vacate the place.

“I am surprised how she led thugs, as a woman and a leader, to hire thugs and attacked my staff.

“That is why I am here at the police headquarters to report the matter and seek justice,” Mr Umar said.

One of the victims, Mustapha Bashir, alleged that he was shot at hand while he was dragging the manager of the factory to run away.

Mr Bashir, while narrating the incident, alleged that he heard the local government chairperson ordering her orderly to shoot at the manager.

“We were on duty when the thugs suddenly pounced on us on the orders of the local government chairperson. They came with dangerous weapons including guns.

“I heard her ordering her orderly to shoot at our manager. I heard her saying see him there, see him there. As I was dragging him away, the orderly, a policewoman, fired the shot and hit me on my left hand,” he alleged.

Mr Bashir said further that his intervention saved the manager’s life.

Another victim, Khalifa Suyudi, narrated that the company has 64 staff, but on that fateful day, only about 30 were on duty when the chairperson came.

Mr Suyudi, who suffered fracture on his left hand, said Mrs Salisu was not convinced with the explanation of the project engineer and asked the manager of the company to vacate the place before evening.

“As we were busy working, we just saw dozens of things with weapons and started attacking us. I sustained a fracture on my hand when one of the thugs attempted to hit my boss with a club and I blocked him from hitting him, that is how I sustained this injury.

“We were doing our lawful duty. We were not doing anything illegal. We produce metal pots, meat griller, among others.

“In fact, our company is situated outside the project coverage area, and this was explained to the chairperson but she led thugs to do this to us,” he lamented.

Mr Suyudi said they were at the police headquarters to report the local government Chairman and seek justice.

Efforts to reach Mrs Salisu proved abortive as her phone number was not reachable.