Bauchi — Gunmen shot and injured a personal assistant and a police guard attached to Governor Isa Yuguda in Bauchi at the weekend, the latest in a series of attacks on people linked with politicians in the state this month.

Police Sergeant Sule Giwa and political assistant Jamilu Bauchi, who were attacked at different places, survived the gunshots and were admitted to the hospital, according to the governor's spokesman Sanusi Mohammad and political adviser Abdulmumini Kundak.

Police Commissioner, Alhaji Danlami Yar'Adua, also confirmed the attack on the police guard to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday. He described the incident as part of the "routine crime" in the state and dismissed insinuations that the attack was an assassination attempt. But he assured that his command was doing everything possible to curb criminal activities in the state.

In his account of one of the incidents, Kundak under whose office Jamilu works, said he "was attacked by the gunmen on his way to Maiduguri to purchase horses that they will ride during forthcoming Sallah celebrations. He was on a private and personal journey when he was attacked and shot by the hoodlums. He is under critical condition in the hospital."

Mohammed, the governor's media aide, said Giwa was attacked Saturday night by gunmen along Dass Park, about a kilometer away from the Government House in Bauchi.

"He parked his car, crossed the road and bought something. When he crossed the road again heading to his car he was asked (by the attackers) to stop. He refused to cooperate with the hoodlums and they shot him and fled away," Mohammed said.

"The government is collaborating with relevant security agencies to introduce new security measures with a view to stopping the ugly trend in the state," he added.

Saturday's incidents were the fifth such attacks in Bauchi since August 9.

An 11-year-old son of the governor's Special Adviser on Pilgrims Matters, Alhaji Mahmud Dahiru, was kidnapped last week and is yet to be released.

Vice Chairman of the state PDP caretaker committee, Alhaji Bala Hadis, was shot and wounded in his house in Bauchi recently. Hadis is currently recuperating in an Indian hospital.

Also, a gubernatorial aspirant of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Alhaji Sarki Muktar, popularly known as 'Dan China', narrowly escaped assassination when a group of unknown assailants raided his house at Narabi Village in Toro Local Government Area. One of Dan China's security guards was killed while another was injured during the attack.

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