BAUCHI ELECTION: HAJIYA SADIYA FAROUK DISMISSES VOTE BUYING CLAIMS
Read Time:3 Minute, 56 Second
In defense of her husband, Saddique Abubakar, who is running for governor of Bauchi State on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Hajiya Sadiya Farouk, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, has denied claims of vote-buying.
Elders who made the accusations on behalf of the Bauchi Elders for Sustainable Development urged President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the minister without delay.
Yahaya Sulaiman, speaking at a press conference on behalf of the forum at the Nigerian Union of Journalists Secretariat in Bauchi on Sunday, urged Buhari to monitor the minister’s activities because, he said, they could lead to discontent and a breakdown of peace among state residents.
He continued, saying that “otherwise, the conduct of the 2023 general election in Bauchi is being jeopardized by the action of the minister,” adding that such an expedient measure would foster a calm environment for the general election to take place.
“Part of the resolutions we arrived at is to remind Mr President of the roles we played in his election, the two terms he spent as President. We feel that he should not pay us back by trying to impose someone upon the people of the state as governor.
“We know that President Buhari is a person who cannot be associated with any corruption allegation. But, as it is now, there is an issue which requires his urgent attention and action before it escalates, we are sure that he is not aware of it or he has been shielded by a few people.
“We salute his courage for the rebranding of the naira notes to curb vote-buying but something is happening now, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development is going on with its activities despite the ongoing development in the country.
“The officials of the Ministry are going about collecting data of people with the hope of making money transfers to their accounts at this period of election. This can amount to vote-buying which may sway the attention of the electorate away from what they may have in mind to do,” Suleiman alleged.
He asserted that some of the officials had given them information about what was happening at the ministry. He also stated that the ministry receives funding from the federal government but uses it in some states under the guise of assisting women and other vulnerable persons.
He asserted that “what is taking place can be compared to vote buying with the goal of manipulating votes in favor of the APC governorship candidate, Amb. Saddique Abubakar.”
Nneka Anibieze, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, quickly responded in a phone interview with our correspondent, dismissing the accusations as untrue and a misrepresentation. She laughed and quipped, “Because it’s Bauchi and her husband is contesting, that makes it vote-buying.”
She asserted that the minister’s behavior was nothing new and was instead what she inherited when she assumed office, adding that conditional cash transfers were being used in all of the federation’s states. “So, what is this vote-buying?” Is it because there will soon be elections?
Anibieze added, “We have these programmes in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. it’s not just Bauchi. We have the N-Power, we have the Homegrown School Feeding, we have Cash Grants for rural women that is now Cash Grants for Vulnerable Groups. We also have uplifting households where every household is receiving N5,000 monthly, N10,000 bi-monthly. Then the cash grants for vulnerable groups is N50,000 as a one-off thing.
“So, is it because they’re now putting it in their accounts? Before, these people were complaining that we were carrying cash up and down; now all these beneficiaries have been digitised, they’ve open accounts for them, which will be easier for them to receive money.”
When asked if the Ministry ought not to have suspended the disbursement of the money till after the elections to avoid suspicion, she said, “it’s a continuous thing. Whether we are there or not, this thing will continue.”
She added, “It was there before the Minister came in, it was there under the office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. She came in and inherited it, it is not as if she has added any new name, it is still the same register that she is using. And remember, this money is paid by the World Bank directly into their accounts. So, what’s vote-buying in this? I think there’s a misrepresentation there. If anybody is scared of something, it’s their problem. But it is far from vote-buying and elections.”
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0