Protest mars Niger APC award, as party members walk out of governor

Niger State governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello on Friday received the shock of his life when All Progressive Congress (APC) members and supporters walk out on him during an award ceremony organised by the party to honor some of it members.

The award ceremony which was held at the Justice Legbo Kutigi International Conference Center, Minna was part of activities lined up to mark the 2nd anniversary of the APC led administration in office.

Immediately the master of the ceremony (MC) began to call the names of the awardees, the people started protesting, shouting “no! no!! No!!! its a lie, they don’t deserve it, they didn’t work for the party.”

While the protest was on, the entire hall which was jam-parked with party members and supporters who came from across the 25 local government areas of the state became almost empty, leaving only the governor, members of his cabinet and the state party executive in the hall.

The party members and supporters who expressed disappointment over the choice of those being awarded, described the entire exercise as “cash and carry” and therefore lacking in merit.

According to a party member from Suleja Local Government, Sani Mohammed, “those that are being awarded today are all PDP members who defected to the party after they fell out with their party.

“These people who are being given award today where were they two years ago when we were forming the party. Some of them were in PDP or somewhere laughing at us when we were struggling.

“Today they are being awarded because they have money to give to party executive. This is a cash and carry award and it is not good for the party.”

Another party member from Bida, Muhamud Musa believed that “this type of shameless act is capable of tearing the party apart, adding that “some people will definitely feel alienated after they had worked hard to make the party what it is today.”

Others who also staged a walk out from the hall in anger, said that they were bundled into vehicles from their respective local governments without feeding and pocket allowances with a promise to settle them when they get to the party office in Minna.

“Some of us left our houses since morning without food and until now (4:00pm) nobody has given us anything. They said when we get to Minna they will give us our feeding allowance, but now nobody is talking to us,” one of the party members from Bosso Local Government who simply gave his name as Abdullahi said.

According to him, “You can see that since the event started, nobody has served us with even common pure water and you expect us to continue staying here, no! we have to start going back to our houses,” he submitted.

The situation was further compounded following the absence of most of the elected representatives from the state at the award ceremony.

It was observed that out of the three APC Senator from the state, only one, Senator Aliyu Sabi representing Niger North was present at the award, while out of the 11 APC House of Representatives members, only two, Hon. Umar Bago (Chanchaga) and Hon. Muhamud Mohammed (Lapai/Agaie) Constituencies were present at the award.

No reason was given for their absence, but it was reliably gathered that the members have continuously expressed reservation over the style of Governor Abubakar Sani Bello’s leadership and have decided to stay away from all state functions.