The Borno State Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Youth Empowerment and Sports, Comrade Saina Buba, has debunked media reports claiming that he threatened physical harm against opposition members.
However, the commissioner, in a viral video which has sparked widespread concern, threatened to cut off the fingers of those who pointed a finger at members of his group.
“We are now playing politics. Whoever shows us a finger, we will show him a finger… Whoever dares to show us a finger again, we will break his finger,” he said.
Buba, however, denied that the statement was targeted at opposition members.
Briefing journalists in his office in Maiduguri, Buba said the statement was exclusively addressed to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the North-East.
He insisted that his statement had been twisted, creating the impression that he was referring to opposition members.
“The meeting was purely an APC members’ gathering, not a political parties’ meeting. It’s a City Boy Movement (CBM) that was launched in the North-East to empower party loyalists. It is purely an APC affair, not a gathering for political parties.
“We in the APC observed that immediately after the party’s primaries, some aggrieved members had started playing anti-party politics, and we felt it was necessary to call them to order by telling them: ‘Those who vote for APC candidates will be fed with honey, while those who don’t will be caned.’”
Buba explained that the statement was figurative, meaning that “our empowerment and other welfare packages will be limited to loyalists, and nothing for those who engage in anti-party activities.”
The commissioner re-emphasised that he had no apology over the statement, which he said was directed at a gathering of like-minded people who agreed to remain faithful to the ideals of the APC.
He noted that, as the 2027 electioneering campaign begins, people should expect attacks from opposition parties.
Buba said: “Fortunately, there is no opposition in Borno, as our party will clinch all elective positions in view of the numerous people-oriented projects executed by the state and Federal Government in the North-East.”
