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From Ola Muhammad, Birnin Kebbi
The Kebbi State Government has berated the African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate, Abubakar Malami, over his recent use of a UNDP poverty report.
The government accused the former Attorney-General of weaponising the report to discredit the All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration and score cheap political points ahead of 2027 general elections.
The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Yakubu Ahmed, stated this in Birnin Kebbi while reacting to Malami’s press briefings on poverty, insecurity and water scarcity.
According to him, Malami has been parading the UNDP report classifying Kebbi as one of Nigeria’s poorest states as proof that the APC has failed.
He noted that Malami was one of the most powerful ministers under the late President Muhammadu Buhari when poverty and insecurity worsened nationwide.
The commissioner claimed that the UNDP index Malami displays covers 2018 to early Buhari era, a period Malami was actively in power.
He argued that the poverty Malami now decries was planted and nurtured under the same government where he wielded enormous influence and power.
According to Ahmed, local security forces, local government officials and the Zuru Emirate Council later disputed the figure, putting casualties at under 30.
He said Malami was condemned nationwide for allegedly lying and dancing on the victims’ graves just to gain political sympathy and attention.
The commissioner said insecurity was one area Malami failed woefully, noting that Kebbi became unsafe while he was Nigeria’s chief law officer.
He stressed that Malami stood by while Kebbi burnt, never visiting, condoling or assisting any community attacked by bandits during his tenure.
He said: “His sudden concern for victims now is fake, driven purely by desperation to govern the people he once ignored.”
In contrast, he said Governor Nasir Idris had taken steps to confront banditry and secure lives and property statewide.
He disclosed that Idris had procured hundreds of Hilux vans and thousands of motorcycles for soldiers, police, DSS, civil defence, hunters and vigilantes.
The commissioner added that the governor had improved welfare for all security operatives and consistently visited attacked communities with relief and assurances.
According to him, the governor also secured approval for Forward Operating Bases and new formations, including 28 Armoured Brigade in Birnin Kebbi.
Other new military assets, he said, include 281 Tank Battalion in Yauri and 381 Artillery Regiment in Kaoje, plus the ongoing armoured platform purchases.
He linked Malami’s alleged corruption directly to poverty, saying confiscated multi-billion-Naira assets showed how public funds were diverted and wasted.
He cited one of the 48 houses reportedly ordered for confiscation in Birnin Kebbi, built for Malami’s child, as enough to fund over 1,000 boreholes.
Yet, he said, the same Malami now decries the lack of potable water that his alleged looting helped to create.
The commissioner argued that a man who entered government with almost nothing but left stupendously rich could not credibly accuse others of failure.
He alleged that Malami and his associates betrayed the late former President, looted the treasury and now seeks elective office to secure immunity.
He said Idris inherited severe economic dislocation worsened by Malami’s era, but had launched unprecedented infrastructure, agriculture, education and health interventions.
He listed road projects like Koko-Zuru Road, free fertilisers, solar pumps, food distribution, teacher recruitment, scholarships and billion-Naira cash transfers as evidence of progress.
Malami’s response to the commissioner’s allegations was not included in the statement provided.
