No One Can Steal The Glory Of My Achievements – Governor Gaidam

Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam has said he would not allow anyone steal the glory of achievements in the state, just as he noted that his administration was working under extremely hard condition occasioned by the current Boko Haram insurgency, with minimal assistance from the federal government.

In a statement titled: ‘Additional clarification on Gashu’a-Yusufari road’ issued by his spokesman, Alhaji Abdullahi Bego, the governor said he was quick to react to claim on the federal road project in the state by the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, as it was in the fashion of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to wrongfully claim state government projects as being executed by the federal government.

Gaidam said he had thought the minister was claiming that the Gashu’a-Yusufari road was executed by the federal government but later found out that he was referring to Gashu’a-Nguru road, which is actually being rehabilitated by the federal government.

“Two days ago, the attention of this office was drawn to a statement that the Minister of State for Finance, Ngama, said to have made to the effect that the Gashu’a-Yusufari road currently under construction was being built by the federal government.

“We have since confirmed that the minister was actually referring to the Gashu’a-Nguru road, and not the Gashu’a-Yusufari road. The Gashu’a-Nguru road is being rehabilitated by the federal government,” the governor said in a statement.

The statement, while regretting the mix-up, stated that: “It bears noting, though, that our reaction was actuated by persistent claims by the opposition politicians in the state that the Gashu’a-Yusufari federal road, which the state government is constructing with its resources, is a federal project.

“This false claim is merely an addition to a long list of state government projects that are often falsely referred to as federal projects simply to score cheap political points or to mislead the public for political reasons.”

It further revealed that: “This is why we issued a clarification titled: ‘Yobe State Government, Not federal government, is Building Gashu’a-Yusufari Road’ in which we argued that the Gashu’a-Yusufari road is actually a project undertaken by the Gaidam-led government.

“We made reference to the history of the road project back 14 years ago and said the federal government handed over the road to the state government in 2004 after revoking the first contract signed in 2000.”

According to the statement, “The state government awarded the road to be built by EEC Nigeria Limited in 2011 at the cost of N3.86 billion. So, the purpose of our clarification in the first place was clearly to emphasise what we know to be true-that the state government led by Gaidam continues to work very hard in difficult circumstances to improve the living conditions of the people of the state, including building or rebuilding federal roads that have been abandoned or not given attention by the federal government.”