By: Inuwa Bwala
It is a common sight during political rallies, to see young men dangerously hanging on moving vehicles: often displaying dangerous weapons while assaulting passers by and onlookers, who fail to cheer them on or respond to their party chants.
They are known to beat protocols and force themselves on people, often clinging to vehicles without any form of invitation.
They are intolerant of any form of opposition chants and loath any form of orderly conduct by others from their own group.
They are not peculiar to any particular political party and they are often available for hiring: if only to checkmate rival political thugs from disturbing VIPs during rallies.
Reports from the reported attack on the convoy of the presidential standard bearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar had it that, such people
were not in short supply during the PDP rally in Maiduguri last Wednesday.
The first question I asked when the news of the attack on the convoy of
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar broke out, was, whether the reporters witnessed the violence or were informed.
When they informed me that they quoted Dino Melaye, Spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, doubts started creeping into my mind, as to the accuracy of the reports.
Curiously, all reports ignored the fact of the presence of armed thugs on the convoy of the visiting PDP, rather everybody looked in the direction of the Government and the ruling APC as the culprit.
Knowing the character of Dino Melaye and his capacity to dramatize issues out of proportion, I decided to look beyond Melaye’s claims and I discovered that there was actually a clash between rival thugs, on the convoy of the visiting party and others stationed in their traditional shade, along the airport road.
By implications, what transpired was a clash between two groups and not a premeditated attack on Atimu, as we were initially made to believe.
Police confirmed to me that they had their personnel spread out along the highway from the airport to the Shehu of Borno’s palace and the Ramat Square, venue of the PDP rally; who witnessed all that transpired.
According to the police, some youths holding brooms and APC flags, instead of that of the PDP, seemed to have caught the attention of the PDP boys, who in turn started pouring invectives on the state Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum and the APC.
The APC boys responded by throwing their brooms at the PDP supporters, while the PDP supporters also threw objects at their APC counterparts, leading to a pandemonium.
The speed with which Melaye, churned out figures of the wounded and vehicles vandalized, even when the rally was still ongoing, and the immediacy with which it went viral, was in itself suspicious, yet most reporters chose to flow with the tide, to avoid queries from their eager editors.
On my part, I have always been of the belief that, there are always two sides to a story, and something did not seem to have fallen in place properly,
In blaming the Government and the APC in the state without proper briefing, Dino Melaye seemed to have pulled the wool over the public eyes by quickly creating a narrative, which gained currency and acceptance: thereby shutting out any likely counter narrative on the true genesis of the incident.
Our correspondent had reported long before Atiku Abubakar’s arrival in Maiduguri, that people were being ferried out of town, ostensibly to depopulate the city center.
When I enquired from a state Government official, why people were being taken away, he explained that Governor Babagana Zulum had charged them to ensure a hitch free PDP campaign, and that, out of fears of the likelihood of what transpired on the airport road, they decided to reduce the population of their own supporters by taking them away from the city center.
According to him, the Governor had to go to Abuja on official duty and had left instructions that Borno must live up to its name as the center of peace, by allowing a hitch free rally by Atiku, even as an opposition figure.
While exonerating the Government and the APC from any form of complicity in the incident, the state official who prefers anonymity told me that, it was actually Atiku’s supporters: apparently ovetehelmed by events during the visit, that provoked APC supporters standing by the side of the road.
Even without the benefits of the emerging facts about the incident, I would still not have believed that, Professor Zulum, whom most Nigerians hold in reverence could descend so low as to disturb the peace or prevent a rival rally for whatever gains.
It is obvious that, the State Government has maintained the studied silence, so as not to lend credence to the skewed narrative over the incident.
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