Advertisements
Advertisements
*Denies One for been Loyal to Former Deputy Gov
By INUSA NDAHI, Maiduguri
The Deputy Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Umar Usman Kadafur on Wednesday swore in four new Permanent Secretaries and Special Advisers to His Excellency, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, with outright denial and prevention of one Special Adviser, Mohammed Ibrahim Kwajaffa, a Loyalist to former Deputy Governor, Usman Mamman Durkwa for mobilizing political faithfuls who were also loyal to the former Deputy Governor and Chairman Stakeholders Forum of Hawul Local Government Area of the state.
The swearing in ceremony which took place at the Multi Purpose Hall, Government House, Maiduguri, amidst tight security and party supporters was administered by Justice Musa Muhammad who represented the State Chief Judge.
Our Correspondent revealed that the current Deputy Governor and his predecessor (Durkwa) who just served his one term in office following the demise of Late Umar Mustapha Zanna, incidentally are from the same ruling party, APC, was expected to serve another tenure with the present governor, But was asked to step down so as to allow the current Deputy Governor go with New Governor for the 2019 General Elections.
Sources revealed that the Deputy Governor was delegated by the Executive Governor who was unavoidably absent to oversee the ceremony, but made a u-turn and denied Kwajaffa to take the oath of office and that of allegiance before him, citing unconstitutional reasons or in other words, disobeying his Chief Executive’s directives who had appointed Kwajaffa as a Special Adviser to the Governor, and not the Deputy.
Investigation revealed that, even though the denied Kwajaffa, has all the reguisite qualifications and political- will before being appointed by the Governor, Professor Zulum, Political observers said, “the action of the Deputy Governor to refuse/deny directive from his Boss to swear all the Special Advisers present, including Kwajaffa, is a strong abuse of office and non allegiance to his Boss as well as the good people of the state”.
As it is, Kadafur only swore in the Special Advisers and four Permanent Secretaries who were present, except Kwajaffa who represent Hawul Local Government Area leaving his supporters who came all the way from home disappointed.
In an interview with some supporters of Kwajaffa, said’ ” We are peace- loving people of the ruling APC, even though we are disappointed, there is no cause for alarm as we had to leave the venue with our appointee, Kwajaffa for peace to reign, and who also saw the incident as the act of God not to be sworn-in on that day, because he is optimistic that the Governor who appointed him will swear him at any appointed time”.
However, the Deputy Governor urged those sworn in to work in harmony with due process with procedures of implementing policies and programmes of the state government in the most desired manner that would impact positively on the lives of the people in the state.
In attendance were the Speaker Borno State House of Assembly and his Deputy, Rt. Hon Abdulkareem Lawal and Engineer Abdullahi Askira, members of the Borno State House of Assembly among other top government functionaries. End