Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, has blamed un-named leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from his state, on which platform he is governing the state, for the attack on President Goodluck Jonathan’s entourage when he was in the state capital for his campaign rally.
Yuguda whose statement exonerated supporters of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) who were widely believed to have been behind the attack, said that the PDP leaders who sponsored the attack were those who have been opposing his administration.
“The attack was organized by some of our top party chieftains who are from the state and reside in Abuja. They staged this disgraceful action of the youth,” the governor said in Hausa.
Yuguda, who is the leader of PDP in Bauchi state, spoke in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service.
He said that the attack was sponsored to embarrass him, adding: “this attack is an insult to the Emir of Bauchi and myself, the Governor of Bauchi State. It was lauunched just to ridicule us before President Jonathan who visited the state and paid homage to the emir.
“The President, as the guest of the Emir and people of Bauchi State, deserved to have been treated with respect and dignity, in line with Islamic religious tenets, which the majority of people hold. But the broom-carrying and misdirected youth, in a despicable manner, behaved irresponsibly as the presidential convoy passed by.”
Governor Yuguda wondered why Kano, which is the APC strong-controlled state did not launch such attack on President Jonathan when he visited the state.
“Mr President paid similar visit to Kano State which is a stronghold of the opposition and an APC state, but yet the President moved round the city freely, visited Emir of Kano, and nothing of such happened. Why Bauchi State?” he queried and added: “they (the PDP leaders) want to show the President that I am nobody in the state that I am governing.”
It would be recalled that President Jonathan’s re-election campaign in Bauchi on Thursday turned violent when some youths converged at the Ibrahim Babangida Square, venue of the event, and hurled shoes, plastic water bottles and other objects at the canopy where the President and members of his campaign team were delivering their speeches.
Although security operatives intervened to stop the thugs from disrupting the event, several vehicles coming out of the venue, belonging to the PDP presidential campaign team, were stoned while tyres were burnt.
The violent youth also clashed with security personnel deployed around Ran road and the Bauchi central market where a police patrol van was set ablaze by irate youths.
The PDP and the APC have accused each other of orchestrating the incident with both condemning it.
Though governor Yuguda did not mention the names of the PDP leaders he accused of masterminding the attack, but he is believed to have been referring to the party’s national chairman, Adamu Muazu, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed.
Muazu and Mohammed are said to be having running battles with the governor in the past, although all parties claimed it had been resolved. [myad]
