Saraki denies attack at prayer ground but video evidence, witnesses’ accounts show otherwise

The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has denied being pelted or booed at the Kwara eid ground on Thursday.

The denial was despite video evidence and several witnesses’ accounts which proved that the attack indeed occurred.

PREMIUM TIMES had on Thursday broken the story of the pandemonium at the eid praying ground in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, when aggrieved Muslim faithful went on the rampage throwing missiles in the direction of Mr. Saraki, and other dignitaries.

Witnesses said the protesters were angered by the inability of the state government to pay salaries of some workers before the Sallah celebrations, rendering some civil servants unable to buy rams for the Eid-el Kabir festival.

“Shortly after the senate president and other dignitaries arrived, some people started throwing stones and sachet waters in the direction of the Senate President and other important people,” one witness had told PREMIUM TIMES.

But in reaction to the widely-circulated report , the senate president’s spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said Mr. Saraki arrived and left the praying ground safely without any fracas.

“The Senate President arrived at the venue this morning without any incident, prayed with other Muslim faithful, including the Emir of Ilorin, His Royal Highness (HRH), Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Ali Ahmad and a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Alfa Belgore, among others,” Mr. Olaniyonu said.

“Before the Senate President left the prayer ground, he spoke to reporters who had asked him about his message for Nigerians to mark the Eid-el-Kabir.

“We want to say that nothing can be further from the truth as the Senate President was never attacked nor was there any attempt made on his life to warrant him being ‘whisked away’ as reported by a section of the media,” said the statement.

But the senate president, however, tacitly admitted that there was a demonstration at the prayer ground.

“We however observe that there was a protest allegedly staged by local government employees over purported non-payment of salaries which hoodlums attempted to hijacked but this development was immediately curtailed by security agents.

“Therefore, to say that the Senate President was attacked at the venue of the prayers is totally false and a figment of the imagination of those behind the story because the protest was never targeted at him, neither was any missile hurled at him,” the statement said.

But video evidence however showed security agents firing shots and teargas canisters to disperse the rampaging protesters who jeered and booed the dignitaries, led by the senate president.

The footage, obtained by news website, SaharaReporters, also showed the irate congregants shouting “ole, ole, ole…(thief, thief, thief…)” and surging towards where Mr. Saraki and other dignitaries sat.

They could be heard making uncomplimentary remarks about Mr. Saraki and wondering whether the senate president had escaped their wrath by sneaking out  of the praying ground.