- Accuses Niger Gov, Umar Bago of Deceit.
By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
Former Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Jonathan Tsado Vatsa has justified his exit from the party, attributing his moves to stay away from the fold because of deceitful tendencies of the Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago led administration.
Vatsa has equally argued that as one of the foundation members and pioneer Publicity Secretary of the party in Niger state, the way the APC has degenerated in the state clearly shows that it has lost focus from the dreams and aspirations of the founders.
Addressing journalists in Minna Tuesday, Vatsa accused Governor Bago of allowing the state to degenerate to the worst since 1999 despite enormous resources with nothing tangible to justify the huge sums of money the state receives on monthly basis from the federation accounts and as well, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Apart from alleged recruiting of people he labeled "political liabilities", ahead of 2027 general elections, Vatsa said that the APC has lost focus and become more of a shadow of itself, and this according to him swelled influences of leadership that is full of deceit, neck deep in corruption, lies, looting, maladministration, and misappropriation of public funds with little or no visible dividends of democracy.
"I can tell you for free, this APC government has degenerated beyond what we had earlier accused the Peoples Democratic Party of doing over twelve years ago", Vatsa who had served as Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism under Senator Sani Bello and as well Senior Special Adviser under the current dispensation pointed out.
Giving instances of high level corruption in the current administration, Vatsa told journalists of alleged increase in the cost of remodelling IBB Specialist Hospital, Minna from N11.8 billion and later reviewed up to N18.2 billion, yet the project has remained uncompleted.
The former APC Chieftain who encouraged journalists in the state to engage more on investogative reports in order to save Niger huge sums of money being siphoned through bogus projects questioned why the cost of the project had reportedly risen by N6.4 billion without its completion.
While calling for scrutiny of the funds committed to the remodelling exercise and as well several billions on loans that will take ages to repay, Vatsa described the state government's acclaimed procurement of MIR machine in the IBB Specialized hospital, Chanchaga, Minna as a scam and fraudulent because there is no truth in everything about the claims.
The acclaimed IBB specialized hospital remodeling, Vatsa pointed out is one of the most questionable undertakings by the Umaru Bago led administration demanding scrutiny or accountability for the expenditures.
Again, "The Governor claimed that the N1.5 trillion loan obtained months ago was a mistake. As at today where is the money? Where is the balance since he told us that he wouldn't have gone for such huge amount of lian?, the former APC Chieftain queried.
Several road projects had been abandoned despite increased FAAC allocation and substantial borrowings, he said, adding that, "Governor Bago regrets to have taking N500 billion for the various road projects is questionable, what happened to the N1 trillion balance of the loan collected?
Warning of dire consequences of the state’s growing debt burden on future generations, Jonathan Vatsa who also described the "New Niger Agenda" as a scam said it is unfortunate that the Bago led administration failed to translate resources at its disposal into infrastructural development.
Vatsa who resigned from the APC over same faith ticket at the federal and state level accused Bago of wasting tax payers' money to finance APC Campaign Council in the state at the detriments of the entire Nigerlites who belong to different political parties.
"The so-called slogan of a New Niger state of our collective dream is nothing but deceit, a sharp contrast to the reality on ground. We were told that Niger Foods would bring about food security, but it turned to be a conduit pipe, while the media propaganda called Agricultural Revolution has turned out to be a broad day light fraud in the history of Niger state where billions of Naira has gone down the drain without a farm anywhere in Niger state". NNL.
