The decision by Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago,
to travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage, alongside the deputy
governor, Comrade Yakubu Garba and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abdulmalik
Sarkin-Daji, has sparked outrage among residents of the state.
It was gathered that the governor and his deputy departed
the state between Sunday and Monday for the yearly pilgrimage.
Residents have accused the governor of not being serious
with governance, claiming he had abandoned his responsibility alongside his
deputy, leaving the people to their fate in the face of severe security
challenges in the state.
Opposition political parties in the state expressed
displeasure over the development, noting that the absence of the governor,
deputy governor, Speaker and majority of members of the State Executive Council
had paralyzed government activities.
Alhaji Umar Danladi Abdulhamid of the Nigeria Peoples Party,
NNPP, condemned the development.
“I am shocked at the way and manner Governor Mohammed Umar
Bago administration has been operating without respect to the feelings of the
citizens in spite of the current security problems facing the state.
“More shocking is abandoning the state without transmitting
power in line with the Constitution. It is not a good omen for the state. This
calls for caution and reversal,” he observed.
Similarly, the Niger North Zonal Chairman of Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Yahaya Ability, said the All Progressives
Congress, APC, is known for outright violation of the laws especially under the
leadership of Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger State.
According to him, “Most unfortunate is that Governor Bago
left the country to perform Hajj in Saudi Arabia without remorse. He left the
state the very day two military personnel were shot by the bandits at Tegina,
Rafi Local Government Area while four LGAs, Rafi Shiroro, Munya and Mariga,
were under attack daily and scores being killed.
“The matter is worse because the Assembly Speaker Abdulmalik
Sarkin-Daji who supposed to receive a written letter of transmission of power
also left together with the governor. This goes to show that the Assembly is a
stooge and under the pocket of the governor.”
The zonal PDP chairman further argued, “Section 190 (1) of
the 1999 Constitution as amended cannot be observed in breach as it makes clear
provision for absence of a governor without anticipation of both of them
leaving their seats at the same time.”
He urged the people of the state to go back to the drawing
board and ensure they vote out the ruling APC in 2027, for good governance.
Ability called for the immediate return of the governor, the
deputy governor and other government officials, to the state, to ensure
security as well as in respect to the nation’s Constitution.
Efforts to get the response of the state government to the
issues raised by the opposition parties were not successful.
The Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Alhaji Abubakar
Usman, and the Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to the Governor, Bologi Ibrahim,
refused to respond when calls were put through to them
Currently, it appears that the state is being administered
by the SSG alongside the Chief of Staff, CoS, to the Governor, Abdullah Usman
Gbatamagi.
However, a source in the government, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, noted that the governor “can manage the state from any
part of world with the aid of information technology”.
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