Thugs attack opposition party members in Katsina

[Mirror]

Some members of the opposition party were yesterday attacked by thugs at a meeting that held at a private hotel in Katsina State.

The meeting which is a lecture on Dialogue for Change, was organised by an NGO, Sustainable Development Initiative, with theme, 'The future of opposition politics in Katsina State; what went wrong and what needs to be done right'.

The thugs, who stormed venue of the meeting in their dozens, began by disrupting speech being delivered by one of the invited guests with antiopposition as well as pro- Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, slogans.

They then went ahead to attack some of the guests, including House of Representatives member, Hon Baba Kaita (APC, Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa), and former National Assembly member, Dr. Usman Bugaje,

Other guests that were slightly affected in the attack include state House of Assembly member, Hon Abdullahi Mahuta, and Mallam El-mazuri, who represented former Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Masari. Hon Kaita and some of his close associates managed to escape venue of the event in a black Honda, but the rare window of the vehicle was smashed by the thugs.

Bugaje's clothes was torn in several places, as he was held by the neck by two thugs; he managed to loosen himself from their grip with the help of a State Security agent.

He was then taken upstairs and kept away for close to an hour, before he was allowed to come out and leave after the thugs had dispersed. A source who spoke with Sunday Mirror alleged that the attack was due to anti-PDP comments made by the invites guests; another source said the thugs were sponsored to ensure the meeting did not see light of day.

Observations however showed that apart from few plain-clothes security men, there was no presence of a single police officer who were said to have been invited to ensure a peaceful meeting.