Gov Aliyu ejects deputy from Govt House
Gov Aliyu ejects deputy from Govt House
Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of
Niger state has ejected his deputy, Alhaji
Ahmed Musa Ibeto, from his office at the
government house, directing him to
relocate to ‘F’ Layout quarters, a public
residential area about 1,500 meters away
from the government house.
Ibeto’s relationship with his boss has
been frosty since his defection from the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the
opposition All Progressives Congress
(APC) in January.
An aide to the deputy governor
confirmed to our reporter that a letter
signed by the Secretary to the State
Government (SSG), Sa’idu Ndako, had
directed Ibeto to relocate to the new
office immediately.
The letter that was issued last Friday gave
him until today to comply.
He added that the office of the deputy
governor has complained to the state
government that the renovation work
carried out on the new office was poorly
done.
When contacted, Ibeto said
that he travelled out of Minna and that
he was yet to confirm the authenticity of
the letter directing him to relocate from
the government house.
However, the Chief Press Secretary to the
state governor, Mr. Israel Ebije, has
dismissed the claim of ejection of the
deputy governor by his boss, explaining
that due to general renovation at the
government house, the Ibeto was duly
informed to relocate to an
accommodation to enable renovation
works in his office.
He said: “As you know, renovation works
on the protocol department has just
been completed and it is the turn of the
building of the deputy governor’s office.
It is not true that the deputy governor
was ejected from his office.”
Meanwhile, the APC has accused the
state government of recklessly taking
loans over the years, resulting in an
overall debt profile of over N36 billion.
The state publicity secretary of the APC,
Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, stated this yesterday
in a press statement issued in Minna.
However, the government in a counter-
statement by Ebije, dismissed the claim,
insisting that the opposition party was
deliberately misinforming the people of
the state.
He said: “Contrary to allegations by APC
that the government obtained N36
billion loans, the present administration
has never obtained or contemplated
collecting any loan, either foreign or
domestic since its inception in 2007 and
the records are there for the people to
concern.
“It is, however, on record that the
government secured infrastructural
bond from the capital market which is
being utilised for the purpose of
development.
“This was done through the approval of
the state executive council and all the
projects which the bond was utilised for
are there for the people to see.”
Ebije said it was very unfortunate and
out of ignorance for the APC to
misunderstand bond for loan, thereby
sending wrong signals to the people, all
in an attempt to score cheap political
points.
But the APC’s spokesman has accused
the Aliyu administration of collecting
commercial term loans of about
N5,462,217.817.38 from two commercial
banks between 2013 and the end of
2014.
According to him, it also went to the
capital market and collected several
bonds which outstanding debt stock by
the end of 2014 stood at
N16,347,232,682.81.
“The APC make bold to tell the people of
Niger state that in September 2013 the
government collected N1 billion loan, in
February 2014 a loan of N2.68 billion
loan was collected, in June 2014 another
N2 billion loan was collected, and in
October 2014 another N2 billion loan
was collected, summing up to over N5.4
billion commercial bank loans hanging
heavily on the state.”
He said the state has a balance of
outstanding external debt amounting to
N4.6 billion, apart from the “stinky
commercial loan” taken within 12
months and the huge state and local
government pension arrears that were
put at N2.3 billion and N7.17 billion respectively.
