By Ummi Ismaeel,
Minna
Governor Abubarkar Sani Bello of Niger State;s tour of some of the councils in the state turned soar Wednesday as youths at Zone ‘B’ (Niger-East) attacked his convoy.
The youths descended on the governor’s convoy with stones and jeered him over alleged poor performance and failure to fulfill electioneering promises.
The governor, according to investigation, was in the zone to kick-start his re-election campaign at Bosso Local Government Area.
He also suffered setback when he visited Shiroro and Munya councils.
Eyewitness said that the governor’s convoy was blocked around Maitumbi village, the only route linking Munya and Shiroro local government councils to the state capital, where he was held for about 30 minutes by the irate youths.
The youths complained about the governor’s non-fulfillment of campaign promises including poor electricity supply, lack of water for residents of Minna, the state capital, army of unemployed youths roaming the streets, and high level of insecurity as the zone is characterized by kidnapping, robbery, clashes between Fulani herdmen and farmers.
The protesters were later repelled by some hired thugs that accompanied the governor as they countered the unexpected attack from the youths and other uniformed men who gave the backup to provide safety of the campaign train to continue the tour of the zone which has for long been complaining of marginalization by the APC government.
Our source also hinted that the turnout of people at Kuta in Shiroro council was very low due to non-performance.
The Bello-led administration has not executed any project hence the governor had to pledge N30 million for Ward development projects to douse tension even as the youths booed them.
The situation at Sarkin Pawa in Munya council was not different from that of areas earlier visited. But the only unique thing was that the council chairman narrowly escaped being lynched by irate youths over poor performance.
The youths argued that the impact of the Bello administration was not being felt since the inception of his administration three years ago.
In a swift reaction, however, the Governors’ Media Coordinator, Mr Jide Oritunsin, said that the governor was not attacked.
According to him, what happened was that the governor only listened to the youths.
His words: “The governor’s convoy was not blocked; he personally stopped to listen to the youths who were shouting,’ba wuta, ba wuta’ meaning (no light, no light)”.
Jide also said that the governor did not hire thugs, but Police and DSS officials during the tour.