Nigeria’s embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was today stoned at a prayer ground in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, shortly after he and other political as well as religious dignitaries arrived for festive Eid Barak prayers. The chief imam of Ilorin and several dignitaries were with Mr. Saraki when an irate mob started hurling stones and sachets of water at the beleaguered senator who is being prosecuted before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for false assets declaration.
Our sources, including a member of the senator’s delegation, said the attacks had taken Mr. Saraki’s security guards and aides by surprise, adding that many of them initially fled the scene.
According to the sources, the mob’s tempers flared when some hired female praise singers took to the microphone in the midst of prayers and began chanting the senator’s praises. In response, many of the Muslim faithful began shouting “Ole, Ole, Ole!” and then started shelling the Senate president and his guests with stones and plastic sachets of water. “Ole” is a Yoruba word for thief.
In the ensuing pandemonium, the chief imam abruptly ended the prayers as the police and Mr. Saraki’s private security quickly ferried him away from the prayer grounds.
One of our sources said the violent reaction to the singing of Mr. Saraki’s praises reflected a growing impatience on the part of state and local government employees who have not been paid for several months. “Governor Fatai Ahmed received Federal Government bailout funds meant to clear the arrears of salaries owed to workers, but he has not paid the workers,” one source said. He added, “Yesterday many state workers were paid for one month out of more than five months they are being owed. But the monies did not arrive in time for the workers, most of them Muslims, to shop for the Sallah festivities.”
The same source said state workers became more incensed as rumors spread that Governor Ahmed, who was handpicked by Senator Saraki, had donated N1 billion of the state’s bailout funds to the embattled senator to help battle his prosecution on corruption charges.
An official of Kwara State told SaharaReporters that the state was heavily indebted to several banks and other financial institutions because, as governor, Mr. Saraki used state funds and assets to engage in private businesses. Some of Mr. Saraki’s questionable transactions during his governorship are now the subject of investigation and court trials.
Two of our sources disclosed that the atmosphere in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, had become tense after residents read reports published by SaharaReporters regarding Mr. Saraki extensive money laundering schemes and how the current senator and some members of his family had mortgaged the state in a series of corrupt deals to the detriment of residents.
A staff in Governor Ahmed’s administration told our reporter he knew that trouble brewed when the state governor canceled an elaborate plan to give Mr. Saraki a rousing welcome at the Ilorin Airport.
“Several announcements had been made on the radio ordering political office holders in the state to be at the airport to welcome the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. But the plan was abandoned when the governor realized that the citizens of the state viewed the planned ceremony with disdain,” said the source.
Our correspondent reported that Mr. Saraki’s residence in the Government Reservation Area (GRA) of Ilorin was in a decidedly low-key mode, with no presence of the indigent men and women who would typically throng the residence seeking alms during Muslim celebrations. The correspondent reported that there were three cars parked inside the residence.
In recent years, several people had died at the premises of Mr. Saraki’s residence in Ilorin following a stampede for gifts from the senator, who for eight years was the governor of the state.
Mr. Saraki is facing 13 counts of corruption charges at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja. He was formally arraigned last Tuesday, after a flurry of legal maneuvers by his lawyers to block the trial collapsed.
