Senator Bukola Saraki: stoned in Ilorin

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, central Nigeria,  has condemned the attack on dignitaries at the Ilorin Eid praying ground, describing the incident as absurd, barbaric and un-Islamic.

The governor made the condemnation in a statement issued on Thursday in Ilorin by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahab Oba.

Ahmed said government was aware of plans by some aggrieved politicians in collaboration with some local government employees and teachers to protest the non payment of arrears of salaries owed them.

“As a result of this, government quickly went out of its way to negotiate and secure bank loans to offset the arrears pending the time when the Federal Government bailout fund will be released,” he said.

The governor said he directed that funds should be released for the salaries, adding that civil servants received their salary alerts on Wednesday.

Ahmed, however, wondered why some miscreants should take the laws into their hands and disrupt the prayer since majority of state and local government workers, including primary school teachers, had received their salaries.

He said others would get their salaries on Monday as Thursday and Friday were public holidays.

Ahmed, who urged politicians not to promote violence in the state, charged the police to bring to justice those already apprehended.

He also implored residents to mark the festival peacefully and with prayers for the quick resolution of the challenges facing the national economy.

Despite Governor Ahmed’s admission of an attack against Senator Saraki, Bankole Omisore, the Special Assistant to the Senate President on new media, said on Thursday that no one attacked Saraki at the Eid el-Kabir prayer in Ilorin, Kwara as reported by a section of the media.

Bankole’s denial is contained in a statement issued in Ilorin.

The statement said that the senate president arrived at the praying ground without any incident and prayed alongside other Muslim faithful.

“The senate president arrived at the venue this morning without any incident, prayed with other Muslim faithful, including the Emir of Ilorin, His Royal Highness (HRH), Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari,“ Omisore said in the statement.

The SA said that Saraki spoke to reporters, who had asked for his message for Nigerians as part of the celebration of Eid el-Kabir.

The statement read in parts, “We want to say that nothing can be further from the truth as the senate president was never attacked nor was there any attempt made on his life to warrant him being ‘whisked away’ as reported by a section of the media.“

The SA explained that what happened was that a protest allegedly staged by local government employees over the non-payment of their salaries was almost hijacked by hoodlums, but were effectively stopped from doing so by security agents.

“Therefore, to say that the senate president was attacked at the venue of the prayers is totally false and a figment of the imagination of those behind the story.

“The protest was never targeted at him; neither was any missile hurled at him,“ Omisore said.

According to him, the Kwara Government has since issued a statement saying that majority of the workers in the state have received their salaries.

He said he was optimistic that those yet to receive their salaries would do so on Monday in view of the public holiday on Thursday and Friday.