Police arrest young men who stoned Gov Yahaya Bello

The police in Kogi state have arrested the men who reportedly stoned the governor, Yahaya Bello on Friday, after the Jumat prayer in Lokoja, the state capital.

Bello was reportedly pelted with stones and other missiles on Friday at the Lokoja Central Mosque where he was attending a special session to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the state.

A source close to the mosque told our correspondent in Lokoja that the governor, who had arrived the mosque behind schedule, was greeted with jeers and boos by some irate youths, at the entrance of the mosque.

“The governor was booed and missiles were thrown in his direction as he alighted from his car,” the source said.

He was reportedly pelted with rotten fruit and vegetables.

One of the sources said that the malcontents also carried placards while chanting anti-government slogans.

“The situation in this state is even worse than what the residents are doing. The situation is pathetic,” the source said.

According to a source, the prayer session was hurriedly suspended on the advice of security personnel around.

The Special Adviser to the governor on Media and strategy, Abdumalik Abdukarim, denied any such incident happened

“I was at the mosque with the governor and I did not witness any incident like that,” he said.

Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer, William Aya, proved abortive as he did not answer calls made to his mobile telephone, but a picture obtained by Linda Ikeji, showed that the men behind the attack have been arrested by the police.