Governor allegedly stoned at IDP camp

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura may have encountered his worst political embarrassment from subjects when internally displaced persons (IDPs) reportedly stoned him at Agwatashi in Obi council area of Nasarawa State.

During a visit yesterday to the camp to distribute relief materials in the wake of renewed attacks on over 200 Tiv communities in the southern senatorial zone, the governor was reportedly chased away by angry youths.

The youths, who allegedly chanted ‘go back with your relief materials, our people are lying dead in the bushes’, reportedly said Al-Makura must leave the camp because “there was no need bringing any materials when killing continues in villages.”
The governor, who was said to have narrowly escaped the stones thrown at his convoy, allegedly regretted the harsh reaction meted on him when he visited the camp to sympathise with the inmates.

Reacting, Almakura was quoted as saying: “Now we know why the attacks in some of the communities have persisted. Since you will not listen, we leave you.”

He was reported to have cautioned Tiv elders and the leaderships of the ethnic group’s organisations to call their subjects to order.

It was gathered that it took the intervention of armed policemen to control the irate mob.

The governor, it was said, assured the people that more security personnel would be deployed in the area to douse the tension.