Politics

APC tackles Gov Lawal over destruction of structures at Gusau cargo airport

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara has challenged Governor Dauda Lawal to bring out the true documents as well as give reasons for destroying structures at the Gusau cargo airport.

In a statement issued on Friday by the Publicity Secretary of APC in Zamfara Yusuf Idris said their party was surprised to see a recent writeup emanating from the non-directional PDP-led government under Governor Dauda Lawal.

“We saw the desirous need to correct the lies by putting the records in the right perspective.

“The recent of his unfounded noise is the attack on his predecessor and Minister of (State) Defence, Dr Bello Mohammed Matawalle over the multi-billion naira Zamfara Cargo Airport project being executed by Matawalle before his mandate was stolen.

“We will want to categorically state that since government is a continuous process, Mr. Dare is aware of the actual and true position of things on the matter but chose to deceive the people of the state due to the unconfessed hate and disdain he has for Matawalle, using misinformation to coverup his failure especially in squarely addressing insecurity in Zamfara where bandits have virtually taken control of the state in bloodletting spree of innocent citizens.

“As a retired banker, Mr. Dare very well knows that the cargo airport contract was based on what is called ‘Contract financing’ which in this case is between Zamfara State government and private entities whereby funding banks have to assess every step in the progress of work being carried out, raise certificate therefrom before payment is effected”.

According to APC, before Matawalle left office, significant progress was recorded on the project, while Mr Dare was mischievously saying that only his imaginable 19 percent of progress was achieved. He forgot that there are different components of the project.

“To put the records straight, therefore, our people need to know that payment was made on the project through which comprised many components, making a composite attainment of over 30 percent stage of work completed.”

They maintained that the project is open for public scrutiny, Zamfara people are free to go and see for themselves.

“However, let’s delve into this for the sake of our people who might not have time to visit the site, on the Runway, there had been excavation, filling, and compaction of two kilometres out 3.4 kilometres completed, one-kilometre clearance- completed, Taxing way of 500 metres, clearance, excavation, filling and compaction completed, Apron area 200/2 metres of 190 metres, with clearance, excavation, filling, and compaction completed.

“Similarly, the Terminal-Level iron rafter is at 50 per cent stage of completion, Water pool is at 90 per cent completion while water reservoir has been fully completed with all Boreholes drilled and completed.

“The cargo itself is at 75 per cent stage of completion, fire station, 75 per cent completed.”

The APC emphasised that It must also be noted that the Matawalle-led government never ventured into this project blindly or ignorantly because it was aimed to upgrade Zamfara to higher pedestal, “so it involved all concerned authorities from the Federal Ministry of Aviation to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority NCAA to the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency NAMA as well as the engagement of competent consultant who all have all the documents involved”.

“If perchance, the lying administration refuses to make these true satisfied documents available in all public domain due to its ulterior motives, we will bring them out so that the people can be the judge in the matter.

“With the foregoing, therefore, we challenge Mr. Dare to bring out the true documents as well as give reasons on why he is destroying structure at the airport, he should also tell the tax payers why he has vehemently refused to look into the contractor’s call for variation of the project from N11 billion to N25 billion which was necessitated by the high cost of materials”.

“The governor must explain to us how he feels when his people are massacred on a daily basis but he chose not to even visit to sympathize with victims and their families but could travel to other places and release his videos dancing in public,” they challenged.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE