UNPOPULAR ARRESTS THAT PITCHED GOV BAGUDU AGAINST KEBBIANS

By Yakubu Ahmed-BK

How the thought process came about to engage in unwarranted, unpopular and curious arrests of citizens on some very flimsy and dubious reasons is what still beats me. In a spate of one month, such arrests, with the apparent imprint of Governor Atiku Bagudu had done very incalculable damage to the Governor’s image.

Two of the arrests have been dispensed with, while the only one which involved a lactating mother has ended up in the courts with the woman demanding a N500M damages.

The first was the arrest of some boys whose exuberance led them to staging a demonstration which, though apt on the scale of government’s irresponsibility in handling finances, regrettably snowballed into destruction of political campaign posters. The boys were left off the hook after spending days in prison detention.

The third arrest, which escaped many people happened on Friday, 13 September 2019 when the Manager of the Ahmadu Bello Airport, Birnin Kebbi Umar Mande was arrested and detained for an infraction he had no control over.

The story goes:-
The Governor had asked for a chartered aircraft to come pick him from Abuja a night earlier. The aircraft came at night but could not land because landing facilities were not activated. The plane flew back to Abuja and the pilots relayed the message of their inability to land, to the Governor.

Livid with anger, the Governor ordered for the arrest of the Airport staff. When attempts were made to arrest staff of NAMA, the federal government Agency responsible for landing systems operation, they threatened to leave the state in droves. The implication of their leaving sank into the fabrics of the powers that be.

So, the hapless Airport Manager, became the sacrificial lamb and was thus arrested. One source said he was released a day after, while another source had it that he was allowed to go home 8 hours after arrest. It was later discovered that a communication gap between government house officials on one hand and NAMA officials/local airport top brass, on the other was responsible for the lapse. The Airport staff were kept in the dark of the impending arrival of the aircraft which led them to close shop.

Who is next? Is high handedness the answer to minor issues of infractions? What does it take for a leader to be humble and emphatic?