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Coughauguration: How Borno gov coughed so long, so hard inauguration aborted
Borno’s in-coming Gov. Babagana Umara took the oath of office as the 7th democratically elected governor on Wednesday
He was sworn in alongside his deputy, Umar Kadafur, by the Chief Judge of Borno State, Kashim Zanna.
The inauguration, however, had to be cut short after Umara slipped into a coughing rage while reading his speech.
Before the coughing fit began, Umara, a professor, said in his inaugural speech his administration will pursue a 10-point agenda that covers education, security, entrepreneurship, and others.
He wasn’t able to complete the 10-point agenda intro as he was seized by a cough.
Umara tried to choke it back so he could continue his speech, but the cough would not let up until he had to sit down.
Five minutes later, he started to the podium to continue. Yet his throat wasn’t clear enough to do that.
He began to whoop again so fitfully the audience started to worry.
No water offered—he was fasting.
It was learnt a police officer accidentally let out some tear gas where the governor was.
The old and new deputy governors stood in for him, just to fill in the unnecessary break. Nothing improved in the coughing seizure until they ended their gigs.
The chief security officer of the occasion had to signal the police band to lead the national anthem. So the inauguration was aborted.
Quickly, the coughing governor was chivvied into a waiting car headed for airport.