From John Adams, Minna
Related News
The Governorship Candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State, Hon. Isa Liman Kantigi has raised alarm over what he called “open intimidation” of Civil Servants by the agents of the state government ahead of the rescheduled governorship and state house of assembly elections to vote for the Candidates of the Ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in March 18 elections.
The PDP Governorship Candidate in a statement in Minna on Sunday by the Director of Communications PDP Gubernatorial Campaign Council, Mallam Yahaya Mohammed aka Sai Baba, described as unfortunate the high level intimidations of the state and local government Civil Servants by the APC government to compel them to vote for the party’s candidates in the state.
The PDP Gubernatorial Candidate while calling on Civil Servants in the state to ignore any form of intimidation, coming from the APC government and its agents, regretted that after almost eight years of total neglect of the Civil Servants in the state with backlog of unpaid leave allowances, several months of percentage salary payment and huge pension liabilities, the APC government now suddenly sees Civil Servants as important and therefore need their votes for election.
According to the statement, “the same APC that spent the past eight years partying and flying private jets around the world while Paying Civil Servants salaries in percentage and squandering pension fund contributions with reckless abandoned is now threatening those they neglected to vote for APC or faces sack”
While urging Civil Servants in the state not to be intimidated and remained resolute in their choice of candidate to vote for in the forthcoming governorship election, he said the threat of sack by the APC government is an empty one as the party cannot win the March 18 governorship election in the state, adding that “Civil servants should note that the APC treats are impotent, weak and of no consequence, since they are already on their way out of power in Niger State from May 29th, 2023.
“They can’t do anything besides the eight years of suffering, hunger and poverty they have subjected you, the Civil Servants to, we must reject them.
Go out en mass, vote massively for Hon. Isah Liman Kantigi and all PDP candidates so as to return the good old days of Payment of Salaries on or before 25th of every month, leave grants, Housing projects, and free transport for students, Scholarships, festive Salary bonus, workshops and seminars, roads constructions, and prompt pension payments”.
The PDP Gubernatorial Candidate also condemned the pressure on Local Government Council chairmen in the State to remit N10million each to fund the governorship campaign of the party, saying such misappropriation of Council’s funds will not go unquestioned.
He pointed out that the decision to siphon Council’s funds for an election amount to a disservice to the rural people and a waste of local Government funds on the APC Candidates for an election the party had already lost.
“We are very much aware that the council chairmen have being put under immense pressure to remit funds for the APC gubernatorial campaigns and elections in Niger state, this is a disservice to the poor rural dwellers who are deprived of infrastructure and welfare and a breach of oath of office. This is an unfortunate development that the people must stand up against.
“Already we have seen how poverty, impoverishment and hunger have been weaponized by the APC for electoral goals, we saw how half pack of spaghetti and a pack of Noodles meant for COVID-19 palliatives were kept and used as Incentives for vote buying from the poor rural people, this cannot continue.
He added further that Council chairmen who should ordinarily be at the fore of alleviating poverty among the rural people and providing infrastructures should not be vanguards of poverty distribution by channeling Council’s meager resources into APC gubernatorial campaigns and elections.