Adelowo Oladipo reports the ding-dong between a group, the Concerned Citizens of Niger State, and the Niger State government over alleged corruption and mismanagement of resources.

THE popularity of Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State suffered a set back on Tuesday, 4 September, 2012, as a group tagged the Concerned Citizens of Niger State stormed the premises of the state House of Assembly, Minna, and formally complained to members over perceived mismanagement of the state’s scarce resources by the Chief Servant, Governor Babangida Aliyu.

The protesters, led by Alhaji Maude Usman (aka Chaska ) as the chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Giwa Wana, the vice chairman and Alhaji Garba Ataza Paiko, the secretary, respectively, which claimed to have drawn all their members from the 25 local government areas of the state, also called on the house members to, without further delay, impeach the governor forthwith, arguing that his leadership had become a nightmare to the teeming citizens of the state.

“We are baffled that since 2007 when Aliyu came on board, he has busied himself with, among other things, interfering with the internal workings of the state legislature, which resulted in the removal of five speakers for no just cause but to suit his personal desires by which he defrauds the state,” they alleged.

But in a swift reaction, the state’s Commissioner for Communication, Information and Strategy, Alhaji Danladi Abdulhameed, stoutly defended the governor, describing the allegations of corruption levelled against his boss as spurious and unfounded.

"In fact, as 2015 is drawing nearer, a lot of negative stories, a lot of insinuations, castigation and name calling should be expected from the opposition groups, because one thing I noticed is that the more you talk, the more people criticize you. But again, I am happy the media is there to clarify issues," he stated .

He enjoined media practitioners in the state to be on the look out for people who might want to mislead them on some issues.

“By the time they talk to you, you would look at them and laugh because such people, either within or outside the state, might want to sit down and cook up stories, with a view to misleading any media man.’’

The Concerned Citizens of Niger State however stated that it was a known fact that the governor’s alleged ploy in the past five years had incapacitated the House of Assembly, such that it was only his desires that saw the light of the day. They claimed that citizens in the state had watched with dismay, the annual budget presentations to the state legislators, with its alleged easy passage which, according to them, had dented the assembly’s image in the eyes of the people. They contended that the budgets in the years under review had remained unimplemented by the governor.

The issue of non-implementation of budgets, according to the protesters, had become very worrisome to people, noting that the Chief Servant had not only succeeded in doing whatever he liked with the state’s scarce resources, but in portraying the assembly as a toothless bulldog.

“The cardinal question is, what has happened to the House Committee on Finance? Has the committee ceased to function and what has happened to the N8 billion federal allocations to the state every month, both to the state and its 25 local government areas in the past five years?

“Similarly, for August 2012, the state and local governments received N11billion.What has Aliyu done with these funds? The House should clear itself, as Nigerlites are made to believe that the Chief Servant usually shares these federal allocations with them every month, since nothing worthwhile can be shown to have been done with the funds and members of the assembly remain mute over these wrong doings,” they stated. The group also said that the people wanted to know what had happened to an alleged N50 billion-N90 billion loans for the construction of roads in each of the 25 local governments of the state, including the one that links Gwada and Kaduna respectively

The said loan, they highlighted, was also said to have covered the construction of a road that would link the governor’s private farm to Bida road as well as the construction of Kwakuti –Kafin Koro road, which they opined had all failed. Additionally, the group asked in their six-page petition to the assembly, if the state legislators were aware or involved in the perceived arrangement of these aforementioned loans or whether the assembly members were also involved in making arrangements for these perceived failed projects, asking why the assembly had failed to raise these issues on its floor. “Why has the assembly failed to organize a public hearing on these critical issues so as to expose these shoddy dealings? In fact, what has the assembly legislated to the benefit of the people since the last five years?,’’ they queried.

Furthermore, the petitioners also stated that an alleged N3 billion state internally generated revenue said to have been paid into the treasury account annually and the royalties from Shiroro and Kanji hydro electricity dams and the excess crude oil funds were allegedly covered by dark clouds, asking if the state House of Assembly had deemed it necessary to invite the state’s Accountant General or even the Finance Commissioner to brief it on what the state generated and how the funds being expended.

Meanwhile, another group Talba Success Movement, in its reaction to the petition, urged the assembly to disregard the petition by the group they called faceless people seeking political relevance, and not allow it to be used to create unnecessary political tension in the state. The group, which made its position known in a counter petition entitled “Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu’s government is on course” and presented to the Clerk of the assembly for onward delivery to the speaker by its chairman/coordinator, Comrade Hamisu Jankaro, pointed out that for any group to say that the legislature was not doing enough to check the executive arm amounted to setting the two against each other.

Comrade Hamisu, who was accompanied by other members of the group, described the petition by the former group as mischievous and a calculated attempt to tarnish the good record of the administration, which had, since inception, tackled the decay infrastructures it inherited from successive regimes in the state.

According to the group, “no individual or group is better placed or have more knowledge of developments in the state than both the executive arm and the legislature.” But the Concerned Citizens of Niger State, who were poised for war with the government, fired another salvo that the monthly federal allocation to the state was the most contentious issue, alleging that the governor had kept every citizen of the Power State in the dark about how much had had received so far since coming on board.

“He has not briefed anyone about what he does with the funds, nor has Nigerlites seen any worthwhile projects being executed or commissioned by his administration anywhere in the state. It is disheartening to note that over 1.56 million youths remain unemployed in Niger State due to the neglect of Aliyu’s government. We are aware that the state is the third state in the federation with huge unemployment of youths, following Zamfara and Bauch state in that order,’’ they said.

But rising in a stout defence of Governor Aliyu was the state’s chapter of he Peoples Democratic Party {PDP}, which described as the tantrums of unappreciative opposition parties member, the allegations made against the governor, just as the party passed a vote of confidence in him, saying the administration had performed well to its expectation. The party also threw its weight behind the plans by the government to dispose of some government property in Minna, the state capital, with a view to using the proceeds of such property for the redevelopment of the Three Arms Zone of the state capital.

Addressing newsmen on Wednesday, 5th September 2012, the party chairman, Alhaji Abdulrahaman Enagi, said that “the state Working Committee met and passed a vote of confidence in the administration of Governor Aliyu. We are fully in support of government policies.’’

Enagi said that “the party always feels proud to associate ourselves with this administration. Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu has done us proud.’’ He declared that it was not possible for the governor to be impeached, insisting that ‘impeachment of the governor is not possible because he is working according to the constitution and to satisfaction of the people that elected him’.The party boss said that the plan by the state government to sell of commissioners and legislators quarters is in line with 2012 budget passed into law by the state assembly, adding that government planned to use the proceeds from the sale on the provision of infrastructure.