Sokoto Govt, PDP Bicker Over Allegation Of Reckless Spending
Governor Ahmed Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been accused by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Sokoto State of spending the state’s funds carelessly.
However, the party’s stance has been characterized as blatant propaganda by the state government.
Naija News reports that the party accused the state’s APC-led administration of carelessly handling public monies through what it described as excessively overpriced contracts in a press statement released on Saturday by its Publicity Secretary, Hassan Sayinnawal.
The opposition party in the statement raised “a serious alarm over the increasing recklessness being displayed by the APC government in the state in the handling of public resources, through the award of grossly inflated contracts that are in defiance of due process and standard financial procedures.
“While Governor Ahmed Aliyu has on the inception of his government unilaterally awarded huge contracts with neither the approval of the Executive Council nor the participation of statutory ministries and departments, the costs of completed, ongoing and proposed projects are a clear indication of gross misappropriation of state resources.
“It is inexcusable that the lighting of a few streets in Sokoto metropolis is costing the people about N2 billion, even as the poles are the existing ones being repainted. The construction of urban streets in two neighbourhoods is put at an unprecedented cost of N40 billion, even though none of the roads is up to two kilometres long.
“Our party views as ridiculous, the spending of N292 million on the redecoration of three roundabouts in Sokoto, which have already been carried by private companies in the state. So is the allocation of a whopping N1 billion to the purchase of a new fleet of limousines for Governor Ahmed Aliyu.”
The party demanded that Governor Ahmed Aliyu reevaluate the most reckless part of his wasteful and dubious plan to spend N800 million rebuilding the Maiduguri Road by Eastern Byepass Road.
In response to the opposition party, the state government called the PDP’s statement “shameless propaganda” in a statement signed by Sambo Danchadi, the state commissioner for information.
The statement read, “The bone of contention in the press release is the amount of money the Ahmed Aliyu-led administration is spending in bringing back the lost glory of the good old days Sokoto was known for.
“Although the PDP in all ramifications has agreed and accepted that the APC has within the last six months changed the socio-economic face of the state, it is concerned about the huge spending on projects. There is an Igbo saying that ‘better soup na money make am’, therefore, quality work must surely cost so long as the people benefit from it as the end always justifies the means.
“Talking about road rehabilitation, reconstruction and rebuilding, the Tambuwal administration spent eight years but everyone can count the number of road projects it executed. Apart from the few road projects the PDP executed, the quality of work done is still questionable despite the huge amount it claimed to have spent.”
