DEFECTION: NIGER GOVERNOR BARS DEPUTY FROM EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING

Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu, today directed his deputy,  Ahmed Ibeto, to desist from further attending the state executive council meetings consequent upon his  defection from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Specifically, governor Aliyu alleged that his deputy had branded him a thief at the APC's campaign in the state.

According to a press statement by Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the State governor, Israel Ebije, the Deputy Governor sought and was granted permission to stay away from state executive council meetings, with an addition that he would have access to all the entitlements of his office.

The statement reads: "The deputy Governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, asked council to excuse him from Wednesday’s meeting when issues concerning the general elections were presented.

"He is now in the opposition and the right thing to do, based on moral grounds, was to leave the meeting.

"The Deputy Governor is smart enough to realise he cannot sit in council and listen to political strategies of the PDP and be seen either as a mole for the APC or as an unnecessary distraction.

"It is clear he cannot operate within the reasoning of the PDP-led council, hence, he had to take the most honorable decision."

But the deputy governor knocked the statement, describing same as falsehood, which according to him did not represent the true picture of what had transpired at the council.

According to the deputy governor, "If this statement is coming from government, let me react. It is not true that I excused myself. When I received notification of the council meeting of yesterday(Wednesday), I went as usual.

"But before the council started, the governor, in his opening remarks, said people and members of the executive council were aware that I had defected from the PDP to APC, and that we had gone on campaign round the state.

"He said that he had the information and clips that I called him a thief and that he would not preside over the council where I am seated."

Picture credit: TheNation