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Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda (Image source:
TheCable)
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Revelations by Bauchi State Governor
Isa Yuguda on the stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan in the state during a
campaign rally was said to have shocked the Presidency and the national
leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Media reports quote Yuguda, in an interview with the BBC
Hausa service, said that the stoning and the attack on the President were
carried out by members of the ruling PDP.
Before now, the Presidency and the
ruling party had accused the opposition All Progressives Congress of being the
mastermind of the attack.
Special Adviser to the President on
Political Affairs, Professor Rufai Alkali, and the PDP Presidential Campaign
Office, however insisted that the attack was carried out by the APC.
But Yuguda, a member of the National
Executive Committee of the PDP, insisted that those who organized the youths
that threw stones and pelted the President with sachet water, were members of
the party from Abuja.
The governor said, “I am sure and
let the world know that the people who did this thing were PDP members and
those politicians in Abuja were the ones behind it; they were not APC members.
“They found these youths on the road
and gave them brooms and sachets of water and they instructed them that when
the President was passing they should raise the brooms and throw the sachets
of water at him.
“They did that so that the President
would think that Isa Yuguda is against him. They have been telling him in Abuja
that we are not supporting him. They did that to show the President that Isa
Yuguda is nothing in Bauchi, to show that despite being an indigene of Bauchi,
Isa Yuguda could not be respected with his guests in Bauchi.”
Yuguda also said that he and members
of his cabinet were not aware of the plan ahead of the rally, saying they were
taken by surprise.
Reacting to the governor’s
statement, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Ibrahim
Jalo, said that only the governor was in a position to clarify his statement on
the matter.
Jalo said, “How can my party be organizing
stoning? Anyway, Yuguda has spoken on the issue. He should be the one to
clarify his position on the matter.
“I was in Bauchi that day and I saw
what happened. The governor said it was done by PDP members. Ask him to speak
further on it.”
However, a presidency source
described the governor’s statement as unfortunate.
“How can he speak like that? We have
condemned it; the party has condemned it and now, he’s blaming the party for
this. That’s bad,” a presidential aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not allowed to speak officially on the matter, told our
correspondent.
The National Publicity Secretary of
the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said he was happy that Yuguda was able to summon
the courage to clarify what happened in the state.
Mohammed said, “Governor Yuguda’s
interview has vindicated the APC and confirmed our position that the PDP and
President Goodluck Jonathan will stop at nothing to scuttle this election.
“It is sad that in their desperation
PDP and Jonathan are ready to bring down the nation.
“Thanks to Governor Yuguda. The
whole world now sees the hypocrisy and perfidy of President Jonathan and the
PDP.
“In Jos, Kano, Bauchi, Rivers and
other states we have witnessed electoral violence, PDP are the instigators and
aggressors.”
But the Director of Media and Publicity of the
PDP presidential campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode, warned the APC on
Sunday to stop blaming the ruling party for the attacks on the President.
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