Former Governor of Gombe State now Senator representing Gombe Central, Muhammad Danjuma Goje, was held for about 3 hours by the state police command on Monday for allegedly conducting a political rally in Kumo, headquarters of his senatorial district.
State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Fwaje Atajiri, said Goje was invited for a chat because of a campaign rally he held even though he had informed the police his visit to the state was for a wedding ceremony.
“He came in, gave us a letter that he was going to attend a wedding, and after the wedding we had information that there was a campaign rally taking place in Kumo and some of these hoodlums were there with weapons.
“So the commissioner of police called him so that they can discuss on matters pertaining the security of the good people of Gombe State. We don’t want these youths to use the advantage of the personality to cause havoc”, Atajiri said.
In reaction, the ex-governor said he was detained by the police for conducting a legitimate tour of his constituency.
He said he was on tour in Kumo when heavily-armed security men arrived and demanded that he followed them to the State Police Command in Gombe.
Goje said his supporters initially resisted the arrest, but the security men followed them to Yamaltu-Deba, where they forced him to call off the tour and he was then taken to the state capital.
“The Police Commissioner said I should have gone with no more than two cars but I had a mammoth crowd following me so they had to arrest me”, he said.
“They came with truckloads of eight lorries conveying heavily-armed security men led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police who said he was ordered to arrest me because I was moving with large crowd of people.
“I wonder if there is any law against political meetings but mine was even a constituency tour ahead of our resumption from recess at the National Assembly”, he added.
Goje pointed out that “this week they are going to hold Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria rally in Gombe, they just did one in Minna and nobody stopped them. Is it because we are APC?”
The senator said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been witch-hunting him since he left the party to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“If as a former minister, former governor and a serving senator I cannot move freely and tour my constituency, then Nigeria is headed to the wrong direction. These kinds of actions are capable of truncating democracy”, he said.
As a former governor and minister Senator Goje is a very poor example of the type of leaders we want in this new era. He thinks he is above the law. Wrong.