Yobe State Governor Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, Tuesday, refused to grant audience to the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, following the minister’s rally with the recently released Major Hamza Al-Mustapha in Nguru last week.
The minister was in Damaturu to give the state government 222 trailer loads of grains and N150 million being the Federal Government’s assistance to Yobe as one of the three states affected by emergency rule.
But the governor, who was at the Government House but refused to see the minister, was, according to an aide who does not want his name in print, annoyed that the minister drove in the same car with Al-Mustapha to the Nguru rally despite the emergecy rule in the state.
All efforts to speak to the governor’s media aide was futile as our reporter’s calls were unanswered. A text message sent to the aide was not also acknowledged by the time of going to press.
Meanwhile, the federal government’s ‘largesse’ was a source of controversy as the state deputy governor, Engr Danlami Ali, who hosted the minister, claimed he was mystified over claims by the minister that he “personally sourced N200 million from individuals and organisations to transport the grains to Damaturu.”
Engr Ali said that he was “baffled”, and hinted that the federal government’s business must be some sort of “mixed grill” if individuals could “donate to transport a federal government assistance” or that it should be “shared by NGOs” as hinted by the minister.
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