Borno State Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Youth Empowerment and Sports, Saina Buba, has said his controversial comment about “cutting off” the fingers of critics was figurative and not directed at opposition members.
Buba made the clarification during a press briefing in Maiduguri on Monday, August 31, 2025, following outrage over remarks he made at a political gathering two days earlier.
Speaking at the inauguration of the City Boy Movement, a political support group backing President Bola Tinubu’s second-term bid, Buba had warned critics against opposing the administration of Governor Babagana Zulum.
“Whoever raises their fingers against us, we will do the same to them. If you raise your fingers again, we will cut them off,” he said in a video that went viral.
However, the commissioner said the comments were made to members of the All Progressives Congress from the North-East who attended the event, and not to opposition parties.
“The meeting was purely APC members gathering, not political parties. It’s a City Boy Movement which was designed to promote economic empowerment, self-reliance, skills development and improved livelihoods, among party loyalists,” he said.
Buba explained that the remarks were in response to alleged anti-party activities by some APC members after the party’s primaries.
“We in the APC observed that immediately after the party’s primaries, some aggrieved members have started playing anti-party politics, and we felt it’s 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,” he said.
The commissioner maintained that his reference to cutting off fingers meant that government empowerment and welfare programmes could be restricted to party loyalists rather than those involved in anti-party activities.
He said he had no apology for the remark, insisting it was made to people who shared the same political affiliation and had agreed to remain committed to the ideals of the APC.
