PDP THUGS INVADE OPPOSITION POLITICAL GATHERING IN KATSINA - by: Abubakar Kurfi - November 10, 2013 On Saturday November 9th, as I announced to this distinguished gathering that there will be a public lecture organized by our (NGO) Katsina Dialogue For Change to be delivered by Dr Usman Bugaje, the theme of which is The future of opposition politics in Katsina State; what went wrong and what needs to be done right. The guest speaker, Dr Bugaje arrived at the venue some minutes after 10am and immediately the program got started. The MC started by introducing the important dignitaries present to the high table. Among them are; Dr Bugaje (a former gubernatorial candidate in the state of the defunct ACN), Hon. Aminu Bello Masari (a former gubernatorial candidate in the state of the defunct CPC) being represented by Alh. Elmarzuq, Hon. Abdullah Mahuta (Minority leader, Katsina state House of assembly), Col. Abdulaziz yaradua, Dr. Abubakar Kurfi, Hon. Sani Riko, Barr. Aminu Maigari, Hon. Ahmad B. Kaita (current member House of representative) among others. The program proper was then kick started by a very short and precise opening prayer by Mal. Abdullah Dutsin-ma, then the welcome address my Dr. Abubakar Kurfi. He offered a very convincing address in which he introduced himself and stated the purpose of the lecture. He also narrated a very heart-touching story which according to him compelled him to initiate the forum, It all started one day while I was travelling to a village in Safana Local Government in the state. Normally, it should be a 10mins journey by car but it took me about 50mins because the road was bad. There I saw hunger, I saw deprivation and want, I saw human beings reduced to living on nothing to the extent that the teeth of the villagers have turned red because of the kind of water they drink. Out of sympathy, I felt it is necessary for me to think of a possible way to bring change in our state. That was how this movement got started The guest speaker then took on to the podium and started his paper presentation. At that time, we started hearing shouting and all sort of noise around the parking space of the hotel area. The person next to me (and many others) decided to go out and see what was wrong. He later came back and told me that somebody gave some thugs money to share and that was the reason for the chaos. Some few minutes later, the lousy noise resurfaced again, this time around more intense. These thugs -whom I prepare calling PDP political rascals were approaching the hall at the same time the guest speaker had already started delivering his lecture. As I (and I think many) expected, this thugs who were brought in a luxurious bus belonging to the state, started abusing and harassing everybody in the hall as well as shouting Nigeria sai Shema, and Katsina sai Musa Adamu which literally means we (they) will vote Shema for President and Musa Adamu for state Governor. Both of them are PDP members. One unfortunate thing that happened however was how no any security personal tried stopping them, not even the hotel securities! When eventually these PDP political rascals gained their entry into the hall and started abusing everybody in there and throwing chairs at the participants. It was obvious that the lecture can no longer continue. The attention of the organizers and the very few of us then was how to guard and protect the defenseless opposition party members from the thugs and escort them safely to their vehicles and out of the hotel. It was a very dangerous risk we took, Im telling you. We tried that with all our efforts but no way, those thugs were many, they outnumbered us and they were very determined to commit their evil act. They wanted to please their sponsors. Many of the guests were lucky to escape unharmed, but of cause intimidated while others were trapped in the hotel premises, among them was the guest speaker Dr Bugaje. The thugs are many while we were few, they got to him, grabbed his shirt and tried to drag him. It was a very horrible experience. Thank God we finally succeeded in snatching him and moved him upstairs to an undisclosed location. On the other hand, Hon. Ahmad B. Kaita luckily escaped unhurt but they succeeded in breaking his windscreen What I couldnt comprehend up to now is what does the Katsina State Government really hope to achieve by doing this? Does that mean that there should be no any opposition whatsoever in the state? Does Shema (a barrister by profession) really use his head at all? How can his government use thugs to disrupt a peaceful non-political gathering? Does that means there is no rule of law in the state? Or does he and his political party -PDP- think they can win our hearts to vote them in 2015 by doing this? One thing I know for sure is that disruption of the lecture will only make the forum and the opposition party members more popular, it will also win them more public sympathy. If Shema and his coworkers think this will make us the youth to retreat or surrender, then they are making the worst mistake of their lives. We want to be ruled by intellectuals and we want to be governed well. This is what we made up our mind to pursue and there is no going back. Abubakar Kurfi
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 18:01:00 +0000