Niger State Government Responds To Senator David Umaru's Accusation of Marginalisation

Senator David Umaru

The Niger State Government said it had become aware of the statement credited to Senator David Umaru which complained of an alleged lopsidedness in the government’s appointments, but sought to make some clarifications.

Dr. Ibraheem Dooba, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Niger State said the government holds the Senator in the highest esteem. “Whatever the senator said is important to the government and the people of the state. However, it is important to give voice to some facts; so far only three major appointments have been made; that of the Chief of Staff, SSG and Head of Service. These are distributed in all the three senatorial districts of the state,” Dr. Dooba said.

He also urged patience from the people.“We therefore call on the people to be patient as even the cabinet is yet to be appointed,” he concluded.

It would be recalled that David Umar, Senator of Niger East Senatorial District had accused Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of marginalisation, alleging that his appointments were not equitably distributed among the three zones of the state.

Umaru who made this accusation, while addressing journalists in Minna on Thursday, added that Governor Bello’s government did not give recourse to the principle of federal character, lamenting that nobody from his zone was appointed. “What we have now is that our people are being short changed. Secretary to the State Government (SSG) is from the governor’s hometown of Kontagora.  I want to warn that people are complaining against this injustice and their patient is being tested. I therefore advised the government and those who are responsible to immediately address the situation,” he said.

He added: “It is disheartening for this administration not to show equity to the people of Niger East, despite the fact that the zone produced the greatest number of votes during the presidential and governorship elections. During the period leading to the election, we had understanding that all of us have to go out to ensure victory for our party at all levels. We did all what was humanly possible to ensure victory at the polls. I used all my energy and efforts to ensure the result we got. In the process of doing this, we made promises to our people among them was the fact that there will be equity in the sharing of positions and that we were going to bring meaningful change.”