Berated for washing down the Federal and Niger State governments at his return ceremony to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Information Minister, Professor Jerry Gana, has wished the state governor well if he thinks success is having one third of the state under the control of bandits.
Gana’s aide, Mr. Adakole Ijogi, in a response on Saturday said, “It’s a paid response by the Niger State government. Prof Gana is an elder statesman and a national asset, we shall not respond to a faceless youth group hiding under “Amalgamated Youths” from Niger State.
“With one third of Niger State under the control of bandits and the declining governance in the state, if that is progress for him, then we wish him well.”
On Friday, a barely known group, the Amalgamated Youth Societies of Niger State, described Gana as being part of the problem facing Niger state and Nigeria.
The group in a statement claimed that for the several years Professor Gana was in power “there is nothing he can show as his contribution to the socio economic and physical development of our state.
“It is sad enough that the former Minister who held juicy political positions in the regime of former military President General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida rtd has not even been able to float a foundation which will assist the needy neither has he been able to give even one scholarship to a nigerlite in all the years he held public office.
“How can such a person complain about lack of development in his state or lack of governance / government when in all the years he was in government he did not do anything to better the life of his people” the Amalgamated Youths said in the statement signed by its President Ndako Mohammed
“This state has done a lot for Jerry Gana what has he given back to the state, what has he done for the country that made him a Minister and National Orientation Agency boss apart from speaking big big English” Mohammed said.
Gana had said on his return to the PDP, “There is no governance in Niger state, there is no governance in Nigeria”, but the youths lashed back that Gana was part of the PDP for 16 years during which the economy of the country was bastardised and corruption was the order of the day
“The effect of the maladministration of the PDP for 16 years is what we are facing as a country today” the youth group said.
According to the statement Professor Gana with his defection from the Social Democratic Party where he contested and lost the presidential ticket of the party just three years ago has also shown him as “an unstable and unprincipled politician who jumps from one political party to the other because of bread and butter”.
The groups told Professor Gana that Niger state has been in good hands since the APC under the leadership of Governor Abubakar Sani Bello started in 2015 adding that the administration has been “righting the wrongs the PDP government of which he was a part of”, adding that the Minna- Bida road is now under construction, several roads hitterto abandoned in Minna are being constructed.
“People in most towns and villages in the state now have access to potable water the hospitals are no longer mere consulting clinics, civil servants are receiving their entitlements as at when due contrary to what obtained when the PDP was in power in the state”, the youths said in the statement.
Professor Gana had while reuniting with the PDP last Wednesday at his Busu countryhome had berated the state and federal governments for lack of performance. “The country is nosediving,” he declared.
According to Professor Gana “today (Wednesday) is not a day for lecture, it is not a day for campaigns, we just want to rejoice that we are back together solidly; and we are going to work together solidly, that we are going to work together effectively, that we are going to campaign powerfully
“I tell you, we are going to go round strategically, in such a way that the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) so-called government, whether in Niger state; is there a Government in Niger state? Because many people are not aware, or at the centre? At the federal level, we don’t even have a Government.”