The Niger State governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has said that the boat mishap which occurred recently on River Rakumi, in Mariga Local Government Area of the state, causing the death of a lawmaker and two of his aides, , was deliberately orchestrated by some hoodlums in the area.

Governor Aliyu made the revelation last week when members of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by the chairman, correspondents’ chapel, Alhaji Abu Nmadu, paid him a condolence visit over the incident.

He said the three people who died in the boat mishap (a member of the state House of Assembly, Usman Bahago Nasko, his Principal Private Secretary Yusuf Mua’azu and a Special Adviser Alhaji Isa Lapai), were victims of the plot by the people of the area to settle a score with their representative in the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Usman Musa, who they accused of not representing them well.

"The canoe mishap was politically motivated and capsized by some irate youths from the area," governor Aliyu said.

He added that the people have accused the representative of abandoning his constituency since his election last year.

According to the governor, some of the youths had initialy attacked their representative at Bangi during the commissioning of the Bangi General Hospital before he was rescued and taken away from the area by security operatives.

But the youths who had vowed to deal with him ruthlessly at the end of the occasion, laid ambush for the lawmaker at the river bank to execute their plan.

The governor further revealed that some of the youths had laid siege at the river bank while some went down to the river with the intention of sinking the boat the lawmaker was going to use.

Unknown to the youths, however, they capsized the wrong canoe ferrying another lawmakerfrom Mariga as their target had already been ferried out of the area by the security operatives.