Governor Bago had ordered one of his security aides to ‘slap’ one of the Islamic Cleric whose offence is yet to be known as at the time of this report except for the video clip showing where the Governor was giving a marching order to his aides to take action against the religious leader.

The Governor according to the video which has gone viral ordered his aide,
“Slap him, very well. I said slap him. Go and arrest him. Deal with him well-well”.

The Governor thereafter uttered some Hausa idiomatic expressions which was interpreted to mean, “I have power”.

The Cleric, who was seen kneeling down in the video clip was immediately pulled away from the gathering by one of the security operatives suspected to be an Department of State Services (DSS) operatives while the people at the gathering were seen laughing and giggling as the Governor dished out the orders.

Meanwhile, sources close to the state government said the Islamic Cleric may have attracted the Governor’s fury because he (cleric) had wanted to offer closing prayer at the event that took place last Friday, which the Governor had opposed.

Few days after the incident, many Nigerians have been reacting on social media and many describing the Governor’s action as not just unbecoming of him but an abuse of power.

For popular skit maker, Debo Adedayo, popularly known as ‘Mr. Macaroni’, “A governor who has sworn to serve the people is ordering a security agent to assault the same citizen he sworn to serve. See security agent too, flexing muscles on a man already on his knees”.

“Continue pushing the people until they get to the wall. See my people laughing and giggling while their brother, a fellow human being like them was being assaulted by the same person that swore to serve and protect them”.

Another X user identified as @greatjoe01 tweeted, “I sincerely understand when people argue against state policing for fear of this kind of abuse of power from the governors. But what exactly are the governors not doing with the federal police now?

Continuing, he said, “Here is a DSS agent being ordered to carry out illegality. What are we afraid of?”

Meanwhile, a Human rights lawyer, Gavers Ihematulam described the actions of the Governor, arguing that it is a violation of the Cleric’s right.

Though not clear if there were any infringement or offence committed by the Cleric, the public disgrace is not and will never be a good report for Govrrnor Bago, the state government and Nigerlites generally.

When contacted for reactions, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Bago, Bologi Ibrahim, said he was not aware of the viral video where his principal ordered that security aide should assault an Islamic Cleric.

“I am not aware of the video. Is it social media work? I will look for it, let me check”, Bologi responded, but never got back to our reporter as promised.