By Amos Tauna
Aminu Garba Gusau, a former Special Adviser to governor Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, of Zamfara in northern Nigeria says the alleged use of $3 million to build a 100-room hotel in Lagos by the governor is an attempt by political enemies to cripple the governor’s rising popularity.
Mr. Gusau told newsmen in Kaduna Wednesday, that the anti-graft agency’s report was not only unfounded, false and malicious, but an attempt by political enemies that envied the governor to tarnish his image and political profile.
According to him, “Having failed in their attempt to impeach the governor in July, 2016, they might have come again in their desperation to achieve their fruitless ambition towards 2019 through the anti-graft agency.”
Gusau said, “lt seems the antagonists do not know the pedigree of Governor Yari who was nurtured politically by a Zamfara born political gladiator, Senator Ahmed Sani Yeriman Bakura.”
He said, Mr. Yari rose from the Secretary of a political party to the chairman and later became Member of the House of Representatives before becoming the governor cum Chairman, Nigerian Governors Forum.
“Whoever knows Yeriman Bakura would know that what comes out of him politically, cannot be displaced,” he said.
The former Aide described as unfortunate the false allegation that the governor cheated some of his colleagues in the refund of the London – Paris Club Fund forgetting the prominent role he played in the release to bail out most states of the federation.
He said it is on record that fruitless efforts were made by the then governors, including Bukola Saraki and Rotimi Amaechi when they chaired the forum for the release of the Paris Club Fund, but not until Yari became governor and chairman of the forum.
Gusau stated that Governor Yari enjoys the overwhelming support of his colleagues and that the alleged cheating as reported by the media was malicious and a calculated attempt to pitch him against his colleagues.
“The unsubstantiated media report, despite the fact that it attributed the source to the anti-graft agency, is damaging, especially for one who had toiled so hard to earn an unequalled reputation to stand tall among his colleagues,” he observed.
While advising the Anti-graft agency to guide against media trial or convicting people on the pages of newspapers, Gusau asked members of the Fourth Estate of the realm to avoid making unfair attacks based on unfounded, false and unsubstantiated allegations against public office holders.
An online medium had reported the Anti-graft Agency claiming to have found a hotel being constructed by Governor Yari of Zamfara State with $3million he stole from London – Paris Club loan refund to Nigerian States.
It also quoted the Anti-graft Agency as saying that Governor Yari diverted 500 million Naira from the Paris Club refund to pay off loan from N522billion allocated to the 36 states and also allegedly embezzled 2.2 billion from the 19 billion naira set aside illegally to pay consultants.
