The youth
were protesting the imposition of a candidate on their local government
Hundreds of angry youth, on Sunday,
in Nasarawa local government area, disrupted the All Progressives Congress,
APC, campaign rally towards the local government elections fixed for March 22.
The youth, who threw stones at the
podium few minutes after the state governor, Umaru Al-Makura was about to
deliver his speech, claimed they were protesting the imposition of a candidate
by the party.
The youth had, during the primaries,
selected Tijani Ahmed as the party’s candidate. But they are now accusing the
party of imposing another candidate, Abdullahi Ibrahim.
The aggrieved youth came to the
venue of the rally, Government College, Nasarawa, with stones in Ghana-must-go
sacks and vowed to vote against the APC candidate at the polls.
They ignored repeated appeals by the
state governor for calm.
Most dignitaries ran away as the
crisis escalated, with few people sustaining injuries as a result of the near
stampede.
Although security operatives at the
venue of the rally were able to control the situation by unleashing tear gas,
many attendees at the rally however left the venue for fear of more trouble
from the youth.
Eventually, the angry youth were
forcefully dispersed and the rally continued.
Meanwhile, during the flag-off the
local government elections campaign in Toto local government area, Mr.
Al-Makura appealed to the people of the state to vote for the APC at all levels
to guarantee their future.
He said only the APC has the
manifesto that would bring meaningful gains to the people.
Mr. Al-Makura said his administration
would create additional chiefdoms in the area to give the people a sense of
belonging.
“Our administration has in the last
one year been able to impact meaningful development by bringing government
closer to the people through the creation of development areas,” he said.
A senator representing Nasarawa West
district, Abdullahi Adamu, said the APC would sweep the 2015 general election
and called on the people not to waste their votes.
Mr. Adamu said that his defection
from the Peoples Democratic Party, had brought an end to the party in the
state.
