The transition committee set up by Adamawa State governor-elect, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, raised alarm over what it described as illegal and unauthorised auctioning of government’s properties. What is your take on this?
It has not been in our character to reply or join issues with any opposing party, let alone the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) transition committee over divisive tendencies of misrepresenting facts through a press statement issued by the secretary of the transition committee who ordinarily should have been a guide to only the committee and its sanctity.
But it has therefore become expedient to put the records straight for the benefit of innocent law-abiding citizens of Adamawa State and the general public.
It is a well known fact that the major responsibility of a transition committee is to take stock of the assets and liabilities of the state and to identify the levels of ongoing projects and its completion under successive governments. Any other thing contrary to these cardinal objectives is vindictive and is in clear contrast to the objectives for which the committee is set up in the first instance. The PDP transition committee in Adamawa State has rather assumed the responsibility of an investigative and a vendetta outfit, rather than engaging itself on its core objectives for which it was setup.
How do you mean?
I thought that with the work experiences of both the chairman and secretary of the transition committee, their actions fail short of the personification of their carreer in public service. As elders in their rights, their preoccupations should have been that of uniting the state.
It is not in doubt that, of all the governors that governed Adamawa State, none has achieved the feats of Governor Jibrilla Bindow in terms of infrastructural development of the state and I stand to be corrected. It is therefore my appeal and call to all well-meaning citizens of Adamawa State to rise to the occasion and condemn the actions of the committee and the purported publications by the Fintiri-led PDP transition committee with their divisive dispositions.
Let me also remind the Fintiri led transition committee to understand that Governor Bindow remains the governor of Adamawa State until May 29, 2019 when he is not going to be re-sworn in as the executive governor of the state. The responsibility of running the state is constitutionally vested in him until such a date and time another governor is sworn in. Therefore, Governor Bindow will continue to discharge all his constitutional responsibilities unhindered, until his last day in office.
How would you then react to the allegation that the governor has been selling the assets and properties of the state to his cronies and that he is involved in employment racketeering?
Anyone that alleges must substantiate. Anything that has to do with government assets requires the sanction of the state Auditor-General. On the issue of employment, Adamawa State has a statutory civil service commission. There is no appointment in the state which does not pass through the state civil service commission. In this regard, therefore, no one has the right whatsoever and if not a sadist, or any moral justification to accused the Bindow administration.
I also challenge the committee, and anyone for that matter, to come up with cogent and verifiable facts to substantiate their allegation. Else, they should henceforth seal their lips or the APC will not hesitate to take decisive legal actions against these mischief-makers. The transition committee secretary, being a legal practitioner, and it is my thought and expectations that he knows his onions and in the event of any inactions of Governor Bindow, he, John Yaya, knows what to do.
What is your advice to the people of the state as the Governor Bindow administration winds down?
I wish to warn that Governor Bindow is still the governor of Adamawa State and he is in full control of the state. He shall continue to discharge all his constitutional duties and responsibilities until his last day in office. No one should also take the governor for granted and no one should misconstrue his silence for cowardice. I therefore call on all well-meaning citizens of Adamawa State to remain law-abiding and use the opportunity of Ramadan period for sober reflection and to pray for Adamawa State and Nigeria.