By Tom Garba, Yola
Adamawa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described Governor Jibrilla Bindow as the worst Chief Security Officer of any state in the country.
The position of the party was made known in Yola, the state capital, by the party’s Secretary, Barrister A.T. Shehu.
He said the governor, by rating himself high in performance, “is just deluding himself”.
“As far as we are concerned, 100 days is too much to judge one’s performance and not too little to analyze one’s performance. To us, Bindow is the worst performing governor.
“N1.9 billion was given to local governments which is the closest tier of government to the people but the money was diverted to something else”
He wondered why the governor is spending millions of naira to renovate the Yola International Hotel when workers are being owed salaries.
” In this his 100 days, he performed woefully, less than the expectations of Adamawa people. Road construction in many parts of the state has been stopped due to his failure to release the counterpart funding, even as foreign agencies are ready to support the state with their resources,” Shehu added
Shehu, who spoke at the party secretariat in Yola, vowed that the PDP would wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.
“All of them in APC are from the PDP. The governor is also from the PDP. So, we know their capacity. Adamawa people are already tired of them. Nothing good can come from them. Come 2019, we will send them packing from government”.
Meanwhile, the Yola branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has urged Jibrilla to honour his administration’s commitment to judicial autonomy.
The branch chairman, Mr Abubakar Babakano, made the call when he led the NBA officials on a courtesy call on the governor at the Government House, Yola.
Babakano who lauded the governor for intervening in the calling off of the six months old strike by Judicial Staff Union (JUSUN) in the North-East state said that rule of law and human rights would not be guaranteed without judicial independence.
“We appeal to His Excellency to honour his administration’s commitment to comply with Section 83 (3) and 121 (2) and (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) dealing with financial judicial autonomy as affirmed by the Federal High Court in 2014, so as to avert any further strike by JUSUN and to guarantee the independence of the judiciary.
“The sustenance of democratic process, the defence of rule of law and human rights cannot be guaranteed if the judiciary is not independent in all ramifications,” Babakano said.
Bindow promised the lawyers that his administration would do everything possible to ensure that rule of law and respect for human rights prevail in the state.
