Government activities and Democracy Day celebration were yesterday in low key following absence of the governor, Muhammad Umaru Bago, his deputy, Yakubu Garba, and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkin Daji, and some key officials in Niger State.
The principal officers are all away in Saudi Arabia performing this year’s pilgrimage. But some stakeholders have argued that the governor’s action was in violation of Section 190 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
They also termed the action as alien to serious governance, abandonment of the people and primary responsibilities in the state. The Guardian gathered that the governor and his deputy travelled last Sunday and Monday, with no power transmitted to anyone as demanded by Section 190(1) of the 1999.Leaders of the opposition political parties in the state expressed their misgivings on the development.
Governor Bago was accused of “persistent disregard” for extant laws through his reported treatment of the people as his “servant instead of being the servant of the people.”
A chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Umar Danladi Abdulhamid, described as political disaster, the “abuse of democracy” on the part of the top government functionaries to “abandon the state without transmitting power in line with the Constitution,” stressing that it is not a good omen for the state.
He expressed shock over the manner the Bago-led administration has been operating “without respect to the feelings of the citizens despite the current security situation of the state,” calling for caution and change of attitude.
Zonal Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Yahaya Ability, stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) “is known for outright violation of laws, especially under the leadership of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago of Niger State.”
Efforts to get government’s response on the matter were futile, as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Abubakar Usman, and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Bologi Ibrahim, neither responded nor returned several calls put to them.
It was, however, observed that the affairs of the state were being managed by the SSG and the Chief of Staff. Government sources said the governor could operate from anywhere in the world in this age of technology.
