The police in Kwara State have reportedly arrested eight persons over the stoning of Senate President, Bukola Saraki in Ilorin, the state capital.
Saraki was stoned today, September 24, 2015, at the Eid praying ground in the town by protesters who were supposedly angry at the non-payment of workers’ salary arrears despite the Federal Government bailout allocated to the state.
“It was free in the course of prayers and there was the insurgence of criminals which we put into consideration while planning our security strategy. We know they normally come to beg for money from well to do members of the public,” state police spokesperson, Ajayi Okasanmi told journalists.
“So they came as usual, but we noticed they were becoming unruly and 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 added.
The protesters were said to have assaulted Saraki with screams of “ole, ole” (thief, thief) during the incident.
The Senate President is yet to comment on the reports.
