President Jonathan's Convoy Attacked in Bauchi, 6 Security Aides Injured

NO fewer than six security aides attached to President Goodluck Jonathan were injured when opposition supporters attacked the president’s motorcade in Bauchi, on Thursday, after he addressed a political rally in the state.

It will be the second time in the space of four days that his convoy would be attacked, following a similar incident in Katsina on Monday.

The president was on his way to Bauchi airport, when broom-wielding youths chanting “sai Buhari” attacked the convoy with a hail of stones, some of which apparently caught some presidential bodyguards protecting him.

Security personnel shot canisters of tear gas in an attempt to disperse the unruly crowd.

The convoy was, however, able to maneouvre its way to the Bauchi airport, where the president left for Makurdi, Benue State, for the next leg of his campaign.

He had told the crowd of supporters at the Ibrahim Babangida Square, Bauchi venue of the rally, that no “retrogressive forces” could force the PDP out of government.

He said government would continue to do its best for the people of Bauchi State and Nigeria in general.

The president praised the people for coming out in large numbers to welcome the campaign train, saying that no amount of opposition could halt the good work his administration was doing for Bauchi people.

He urged the people to vote for PDP candidates at all levels, adding his administration would continue to empower youths with education, skill acquisition programmes and job creation, so as to prevent them from being used by politicians to perpetrate violence.

He noted the rich agricultural potentials of Bauchi State, which said informed the decision of his administration to build a number of dams in the area.

Jonathan threw a challenge to politicians using the youth to perpetrate violence to show what positive thing they had brought to the people’s lives in a state, which he noted had produced great Nigerians like the first and prime minister of the country, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, saying “the great man never instigated us against each other. He preached peace, unity and oneness.

Jonathan added: “This state has strong agricultural potentials. We have been building dams across the state to boost the sector.

“The people who are instigating us cannot tell us what they they have done for us. Keep supporting the PDP. We will work with you for more democratic dividends.”

In his address, chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum and the Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, observed that the insurgency in the North-East was not caused by President Jonathan, but that the major cause of the crisis was the killing of Boko Haram sect founder, Mohammed Yusuf, which did not happen under the present dispensation.

The governor called on the people of Bauchi State to vote for the PDP at levels in next month’s election.

Source:
Tribune Newspaper