Some unidentified people hurled stones and sachet water towards the Senate President during the Eid-el Kabir prayers in Kwara State on Thursday.
Unconfirmed reports said that protesters may have been provoked by the non-payment of salaries of some workers before the Eid-el Kabir festival by the state government.
The Kwara State government had condemned the attack on dignitaries at the Ilorin Eid praying ground during Thursday’s Eid-el Kabir celebrations and had described it as absurd, barbaric and unIslamic.
In a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Abdulwahaab Oba, the government accused aggrieved politicians of colluding with some local government council employees to embarrass dignitaries in the state under the pretense of protesting salary arrears at the local government level.
The administration said that it became aware of the plan about four weeks ago but continued to seek ways of resolving the salary crises at the local government level.
The statement added that government had gone out of its way to negotiate and secure bank loans to offset the arrears pending the time the federal government bailout would be released as a result of which the concerned workers would have promptly received their salaries as directed by the State Governor.
The President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, however, denied being pelted or booed at the Kwara Eid ground on Thursday.
In reaction to the widely-circulated report , the Senate President’s spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said that Senator Saraki arrived and left the praying ground safely without any fracas.
“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,” Mr Olaniyonu said.
