By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Katsina State Government has spent N66.735 billion to build new roads and rehabilitate old ones since Aminu Masari became Governor in 2015, says Works, Transport and Housing Commissioner, Tasiu Dandagoro.
He disclosed this in Katsina where he highlighted achievements in road, transport, housing, and other sectors as part of efforts to consolidate Masari’s position against demand for his resignation by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG).
“The Aminu Bello Masari’s administration inherited so many road construction projects amounting to N7.1 billion from the previous administration, which further threatened the deployment of scarce resources in the sector.
“There are also 19 new road projects amounting to 470km valued at N43.34 billion embarked upon by this administration, of which 12 have been completed, five of which were inaugurated by President [Muhammadu] Buhari when he visited the state,” Dandagoro told The Nation.
He listed the road projects to include Tamawa-Bindawa-Charanchi and Fago-Rigiya Saminya Roads.
Dandagoro said another project involving 39 rural feeder roads spanning 165.5km and valued at N26.831 billion has been embarked upon by the government.
Masari dismisses call for his resignation
Masari described as absurd the call for his resignation by the state CNG because he urged residents last week to acquire arms for self-defence.
The call is quite ridiculous for reasons not hard to fathom as security is on the Exclusive List of the Constitution, which means it is a federal affair, Masari argued in a statement issued through his Media Director General, Abdu Malumfashi.
“In matters of security, a governor is the Chief Security Officer of his state only in name, because the various security chiefs working in the state take orders not from him, but from their superiors in Abuja,” the statement explained, as reported by The Guardian.
“The only things they take from governors are the financial and material assistance (both solicited and unsolicited), which they extend to the security institutions in the states … Masari is second to none, when it comes to proactive engagement with security agencies in the state.”
Masari said the “massive increase” in security formations in Katsina and the North West in general is due to his commitment to the war against banditry.
“It was this, which persuaded his North West colleagues to make him the chairman of their security committee. As constitutionally elected office holders, governors do not succumb to the intimidation of some self-serving disgruntled elements, masquerading as human rights campaigners by resigning.
“If they are found wanting in the discharge of their responsibilities, the Nigerian Constitution has provided the protocols for easing them out of office, and no House of Assembly is in the dark about that.”
The statement noted that Masari is not the first governor to suggest arming citizens, stressing that in states where citizens do not politicise security they rally round their leaders who similarly admonish their people.
IPOB sees Masari’s call as vindication of Kanu
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) spokesman, Emma Powerful, said Masari’s telling Katsina residents to acquire arms for self-defence against Fulani terrorists vindicates IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Powerful said Kanu has consistently urged Nigerians, particularly those in the South East, to defend themselves against the jihadist Fulani terrorists, per The Nation.
He insisted that Masari’s counsel should be a clarion call to South East governors who do not understand the “tactics and gimmicks” the Fulani use “in their desperation to conquer and Islamise indigenous people in Nigeria.”