By Samuel Aruwan
Kaduna
The Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Mohammed Sani Saleh, was on Monday verbally abused and booed in Kaduna in presence of General Muhammadu Buhari by angry youths said to be members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Buhari, in swift reaction, said the act was uncivilised and warned party chieftains against intoxicating young men to humiliate their opponents.
The incident occurred at the APC secretariat situated at Ali Akilu Way Road, Kaduna, during the inauguration of the state leadership of the party led by its newly elected chairman, Arc. Bala Barnabas Bantex.
The angry youths in dozens shouted at the lawmaker, while some of them were chanting and calling him names for allegedly not providing effective representation in the Senate.
Some of the youth in Hausa vernacular were chanting Anti-Senator Saleh’s song, saying: “Bama so, Bama so, karya ya kare,” meaning “we don’t want, we don’t want; the end of lie has come.”
Blueprint reports that pleas by some leaders could not make the youths stopped as they continued accusing the Senator and other representatives of using the name of Buhari to get elected and abandon the electorate, and now coming closer to the people because of the 2015 general elections.
They vowed to vote out all those dodging the electorate in 2015, and to ensure that only credible candidates emerged from APC to run in general elections.
They also used derogatory words in denigrating Saleh.
But the lawmaker, a retired Major General, did utter a word instead maintained his cool throughout the occasion.
When Comrade Shehu Sani, a rights activist, walked into the venue, the angry youths carried him up and cheered him as the senator in-waiting in 2015.
After the inauguration, Buhari, who congratulated the new executive members, said, “I don’t need supports or votes of those being intoxicated to cause confusion. It is wrong and I condemn this act. It is not good at all; I don’t believe in it and never condon such. ”
The three-time presidential candidate argued that there were polite and diplomatic ways of resolving differences other than confrontation.
He added that he would not identify with selfish politicians who engaged young men as political thugs and inciting crisis in the party.
