Saraki denies being attacked

Following reports that the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and a number of other dignitaries were today attacked at the Eid Prayer ground, he has come out to say that it is untrue.

A statement from his media office said though 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.

The statement read, “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.

“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.

“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.

“The Kwara State Government has since issued a statement in which it stated that majority of the workers in the state have received their salaries and that those yet to receive theirs will do so on Monday as Thursday and Friday of this week are public holidays, the statement said.

Meanwhile, no fewer than eight persons have been arrested by the Kwara State police command in connection with the attack purported attack on Saraki.

The command spokesperson, Ajayi Okasanmi told reporters in Ilorin, that the people arrested were miscreants, adding, that there was no record of any civil servant or government official among those arrested.

He said: “The state police command deployed no fewer than 2000 policemen in synergy with other security agencies to make sure that the eid- el – Kabir celebration is a huge success.

“In the course of prayers there was the insurgence of criminals which we put into consideration while planning our security strategy.

Read also: Saraki, Ilorin Emir attacked at prayer ground

“We know they normally come to beg for money from well to do members of the public.

“So they came as usual, but we noticed they were becoming unruly we have to come out to prevent them from where the VIPs were seated.

“We then chased them away and we arrested about eight of them. They are in our custody and we have started investigation.

“We learnt that one or two persons were injured; but there has not been any official reports as to if any was injured in the course of arresting.

“The motive of their unruly behavior is yet to be determined. As far as we are concerned the people arrested are miscreants.

“From the stories we are hearing one or two vehicles have been damaged but we have not seen the vehicles. We also heard that one person was injured but we have not seen the person.

“The prayers went as planned and the dignitaries that came back to their various destinations without any hitch.

“Among the people arrested there was no record of civil or government functionary; the eight arrested are miscreants”, he said.

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