The secretary of the Peoples Democratic P(PDP) in Zamfara State, Farouk Ahmed has lamented that the incoming government of Dauda Lawal Dare will inherit huge liabilities ranging from unpaid worker’s salaries to pensions, bank loans and many more.
He said from the look of things, the outgoing government will hand over an empty treasury to the incoming administration, pointing out that the fact the outgoing government is still owing workers two months’ salaries indicated that there is no money in the treasury.
Speaking with newsmen in Gusau on Saturday, Ahmed stressed that some people still want Zamfara to remain a rural state and always backwards because of what they gain from sharp practices.
“This group of people are the problems of the state. The state continues to receive monthly allocations and grants from the federation account but no positive impact on the indigenes”, he said.
According to him, the same group of people are now criticizing the governor-elect, Dauda Lawal Dare’s transition sub-committee of moving round ministries, departments and agencies for intensive investigations on the financial position of the state.
“If there are no skeletons in their cupboards, why are they so worried about the functions of the committees? The incoming government will not treat the issue of financial mismanagement with a mere wave of hand.
“When Dare’s transition committee was inaugurated, the transition committee constituted by Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle was invited to clarify some issues but members of the committee rejected the invitation. They said they can honour the invitation 10 days before the handing over”
The PDP scribe lamented that the outgoing government has been making empty propaganda that the incoming government was planning a parallel government in the state, saying it is constitutional for the incoming government to constitute a transition committee to investigate the position of the state.
” To me, I did not see anything like parallel government in the system because everything we do is constitutional and not illegal and the outgoing government cannot prove why it is unconstitutional”
Ahmed said Dare’s transition committee does not aim at witch-hunting anybody for any reason but to put the state in proper perceptive, stressing that it has come to the notice of the incoming government that there were a lot of sharp practices by the outgoing government.
He challenged those accusing the transition committee of investigating government agencies to go through the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, maintaining that the committee was constituted to find out the actual situation of the State.
“Dare has every right to appoint committees to furnish him with relevant information on the activities of the outgoing administration of Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle so that he will know where to start and how to recover some government’s properties and funds allegedly diverted by the outgoing administration in the last four years”, he added.
“The committee has also appointed sub-committees for the quick discharge of its responsibilities. But some people are complaining that these sub-committees are overstepping their boundaries, thus creating parallel governments in the state”
He said the incoming Governor will not work without documentation to guide him like the outgoing government.
” I do not see anything like parallel governments in the state as insinuated by some people who know that they have skeletons in their cupboards. It is very normal and very constitutional for any incoming Governor to investigate and know where to start”
“It has come to our notice that Governor Matawalle has actioned and dashed out several vehicles to his party supporters a few weeks to handing over. So, we will not wait until the handover date. We will continue to invite top civil servants and public office holders to come and make clarifications”
