The Government of Niger State has refuted the report making the rounds that Governor Abubakar Sani Bello was held hostage by some aggrieved youths, describing it as untrue and a blatant misrepresentation of the incident that occurred on Tuesday at a traffic junction, while the governor was on his way to commission a project.

“At no time since the inauguration of the governor, has his person or convoy been held hostage. Rather, he has continued to enjoy the support and commendation of his people across the state. It is pathetic that a sincere and genuine act of informally interacting with the people by the governor can be misconstrued by some people. To set the record straight, it is pertinent to note that the alleged hostage was a figment of imagination of the authors and sponsors of the story, as no such incident ever happened.”

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Jibrin Baba, disclosed this in a statement made available to News Express, explaining the circumstances that gave birth to the rumour.

He recalled: On Monday, while on his way to flag off the ‘Immunisation Plus Day’ at Kafin Tella area of Minna, the governor stopped to observe the traffic light at Lagos Street junction, along Bosso Road. Some youths in the neighbourhood who spotted the governor rushed to his vehicle to exchange pleasantries with him. And, in his usual characteristic manner, the governor lowered the side-glasses of his car to interact with them. This is different from what was reported.”

Jibrin noted that most of the youths who milled around the governor, during the brief encounter of about 70 seconds, came to commend him for obeying the traffic light by setting a precedent for other leaders to emulate, adding: “The governor’s stoppage at the traffic light was so short that a set of youths could have held him hostage; not with a full complement of security operatives.”

•Photo shows Governor Abubakar Sani Bello.

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