*Aliyu bans political rallies in schools

By WOLE MOSADOMI

Minna -Eleven students were part of the casualties in the bomb blast that rocked the PDP rally in Suleja last Thursday out of which one of them eventually died.

The 10 others who sustained various degrees of injuries are recuperating in different hospitals in the state.

As a result of the students’ involvement, the state government has henceforth banned the use of secondary school grounds for political rallies.

The state governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangia Aliyu, who stated this when members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, caucus paid him a condolence visit at government House yesterday, said: “As a matter of policy, we should not hold rallies in schools anywhere henceforth because there is no way you can stop students attending such rallies if it continues to hold in their premises”.

According to him, “if the rally was not held at the Government Secondary School Field, the eleven students wouldn’t have been involved and so we should take precautionary measures and forestall a future recurrence”.

The governor revealed that besides the students involved, most others affected were carrot sellers, shoe cobblers and petty traders who graced the occasion mostly to get their daily bread.

Aliyu disclosed that the late student came from Tafa in Munyan Local Government Area of the state to see his uncle, secretary of Munyan Local Government who attended the rally just to collect his regular upkeep saying: “He actually collected the money but could not spend it because he was trapped and he eventually gave up the ghost”.

The governor explained that he was not the main target of the explosion but that the main aim of those behind the dastardly act was to terrorise the people and scare them from attending further PDP rallies in the state.

He said the party would  rather be strengthened than be distracted from its good work to the people in the state, adding that though the incident was a rude shock, the members of the party were still able to gather themselves.