N1.8bn Market Fund Attack On Gov. Aliyu by APC Politically Motivated – Aide

Refuting an allegation by the Niger State chapter of the All Progressives Congress indicting the administration of Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu over abandonment of Madalla market, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Israel Ebije, has described it as spurious and election-motivated blackmail. Ebije said in a statement on Monday that the state government has since relocated the market, intimating that the new Madalla market is just opposite the old location. He accused the APC of unproved attack on Aliyu to score cheap political points, adding that the N1.8 billion claimed to have been collected for relocation only exists in the pessimistic mind of the party. He said: “There was a consortium that indicated interest in contracting the Madalla new market which was relocated across the road. The stake of Niger state government was the land which was provided with a Certificate of Occupancy. Niger state government was also to help in suppervising the project. “Niger APC should provide papers where Niger State government under the Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu administration collected N1.8bn for the market. It is indeed worrisome for a political party to engage itself on errand of cheap blackmail to achieve electoral value.” Ebije said the Buhari Tsunami is over now and Niger APC is aware it is on its own in the gubernatorial election on April 11, hence they have become desperate, perfecting lies to gore electorates. He said the people will no longer vote in bandwagon fashion style, the type allegedly experienced in the presidential and National Assembly elections.