Isa Yuguda
The All Progressives Congress (APC) may be right after all that attacks on President Goodluck Jonathan in the course of his campaign is being perpetrated by members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as Bauchi State governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, at the weekend, declared that the attack on the president, which happened in his state, was an insider’s job.
Jonathan’s convoy was last week, stoned on his way to the palace of the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, at the Nasarawa area of Bauchi metropolis and was later attacked on his way to the Sir Abubakara Tafawa Balewa International Airport in Bauchi, shortly after his presidential campaign at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babaginda (IBB) Square.
Six of the president’s security aides were injured in the attack that occurred as the president was leaving the campaign venue for the airport enroute Makurdi, Benue State. Some youths wielding brooms stoned his convoy.
In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, Yuguda attributed the attack to some PDP members based in Abuja, declaring that they had wanted to blackmail him.
According to him, the Abuja-based PDP members hired some youths, who they gave money and brooms, submitting that it was these youths who carried out the attack on President Jonathan.
“We have investigated and found out that the president’s convoy was attacked by PDP members in Abuja,” he said.
The governor said that those behind the act had wanted to blackmail him and also tarnish his image before Jonathan. “For a long time, they have been telling him (Jonathan) that Yuguda has nobody in Bauchi. Unknown to them, with what they did, they blackmailed the people of the state and the Emir of Bauchi.”
Yuguda, therefore, absolved members of the opposition APC of any blame in the attack on the president.