Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State
has ordered his deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, to stop attending the state
executive
council meetings following his defection from the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
The governor also alleged that Ibeto called him a thief during one of his campaigns.
Our correspondent learnt that the
governor in his opening remark before the commencement of the regular
weekly state executive council meeting on Wednesday at Government House
Minna, said he would not chair a meeting where the deputy was seated.
He thereafter asked the deputy governor
to leave the council chambers because he (Ibeto) could use information
gathered at such meetings against the PDP.
The deputy governor hurriedly left for
his office and parked his valuables after Aliyu allegedly threatened to
use the security agents against him.
But a statement issued by the Chief Press
Secretary to the governor, Israel Ebije, on Thursday said that the
deputy governor was not chased out of the meeting.
Ebije said the deputy governor had sought
a permission to stay away from the state executive council meetings and
this was granted.
He added that apart from the permission
granted, the state government also told him that he (the deputy
governor) would still be enjoying all the benefits of the office.
Ebire said, “The Deputy Governor, Ahmed
Musa Ibeto, asked the council to excuse him from the Wednesday meeting
when issues concerning the general elections were being presented. He is
now in the opposition and the right thing to do, on moral grounds, was
to leave the meeting.
“The deputy governor is smart enough to
realise that he cannot sit in council and listen to the political
strategies of the PDP or be seen either as a mole for the APC or as an
unnecessary distraction. It is clear he cannot operate within the
reasoning of the PDP-led council hence he had to take the most
honourable decision.”
However, the deputy governor described
the statement as total falsehood. He said Ebije’s explanation did not
represent the true picture of what transpired at the council.
Ibeto said “If this statement is coming
from the government, let me react. It is not true that I excused myself.
When I received notification for the council meeting of yesterday
(Wednesday) I went as usual.
“But before the council started, the
governor in his opening remarks said that people and members of the
executive council were aware that I have defected from the PDP to the
APC and that we had gone on campaign round the state. He said that he
had the information and clips that I called him a thief and that he
would not preside over the council where I am sitting.”
Ibeto said that the governor said he was
no longer sure that he (Ibeto) would not use council deliberations
against the PDP government.
“I objected and explained that I have
never called him a thief and that everywhere we go, people always wanted
to know why I defected to the APC and I have been telling them I left
the PDP because of the injustice in the party,” he said.
The deputy governor said that although he
quietly left the meeting as a law abiding citizen after the governor
had threatened to use the security against him, he was studying the
relevant provisions of the constitution to know his next line of action.
Ibeto added, “I will challenge the governor’s undemocratic action in court appropriately.”
He said that the governor had no
constitutional power to stop him from attending legitimate council
meetings. Ibeto added, “If I am stopped from attending council meetings,
whatever decisions taken at such meetings are null and void.”
Source:Punch Newspaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment