ANGRY mob on Thursday hurled water sachets and stones at a tent under which the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and some other dignitaries sat, at the Eid-el-Kabir prayer ground in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.
Amid shouts of “ole” “ole” (thief! thief!), the mob, made up mainly of youths and workers in the state, reportedly defied security operatives at the Eid-el-Kabir prayer and threw objects at the tent.
Saraki was reportedly smuggled out of the area by security operatives.
The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Sulu Gambari, who arrived at the venue at 10 am, five minutes after Saraki, reportedly met the mob hurling sachets of pure water and stones at dignitaries including the Senate President.
The tent also accommodated the Emir; the Chief Imam, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir; the state House of Assembly speaker, Ali Ahmad; and a former Acting national Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, and now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, among others.
One of our correspondents reports that the state-owned radio station, Radio Kwara, which had been transmitting the event live at a point, discontinued its broadcast.
Hundreds of faithful, who could not get to the prayer ground because of gridlock, but who had been following the proceedings on the radio, were unable to observe the congregational prayer because of the transmission stoppage.
It was learnt that a coaster bus conveying the Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, and others, was also vandalised in the mayhem with eight persons in the bus sustaining injuries.
The Senate president has however said that he was not attacked.
Saraki, in a statement by his media office, said any report that indicated that he was attacked was false.
The statement partly read “Before the Senate President left the prayer ground, he spoke to reporters who had asked him about his message for Nigerians to mark the Eid-el-Kabir.
“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.
“We however observe that there was a protest allegedly staged by local government employees over purported non-payment of salaries, which hoodlums attempted to hijack but this development was immediately curtailed by security agents.”
He said no missile was hurled at him.
But eyewitnesses told our correspondent in Ilorin that the mob had targeted Saraki in respect of allegations of false asset declaration levelled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau and trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
One of the eyewitnesses, Rasaq Yahaya, said, “The mob was directly facing the prayer ground shouting ‘ole, ole’ (Thief! Thief) at Bukola (Saraki). They were throwing stones and sachets of pure water at him, his entourage, the Emir and others. If not for the tent that shielded them, they would have been injured by the stones. He (Saraki) was their target. Some Kwarans are angry with Bukola concerning what they have been hearing in the news lately as regards his case with the EFCC.”
Another eyewitness, Kazeem Agboji, however condemned the attack, and said the attackers were mainly workers, who were being owed salaries by the state government.
Agboji said, “I learnt they (the attackers) were workers who have not received their salaries. Yesterday (Wednesday), some workers were paid a month salary while some got two months’ salaries. They assembled opposite the prayer ground. As Bukola (Saraki) arrived, they started mumbling. Five minutes after when the Emir came, they began shouting ‘thief, thief’ and the whole place was messed up with stones.
“The Imam could not even say khutba after the prayer. His ram was quickly slaughtered and everybody fled. It was unfortunate that this incident happened on a day like this.
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