(Agaju Madugba – KATSINA)
As the countdown to 2019 general elections begins, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in Katsina State, has challenged Governor Aminu Bello Masari to a public debate, to defend what the PDP describes as “web of lies and deceit” by the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in the state.
“The PDP in Katsina State is ready to face Governor Masari in a debate if he is ready,” the PDP Chairman, Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, said on Tuesday at a press conference in Katsina.
Contrary to a number of successes the APC government says it had recorded since it came into office in 2015, Majigiri said that, “In the education sector, the highest thing Masari has done is painting the schools in APC colours and recently, he removed a Professor as the Commissioner for Education to replace her with someone who will help him win re-election in 2019.
“There are no instructional materials in our schools and no motivational incentives for teachers.
“Our hospitals have become conduit pipe through which funds are siphoned in the name of endless projects for over two years.”
Majigiri also lamented what he described as failure by the government to account for various sums of money it has received from the Federation Account and other sources in the last 31 months of its existence.
As the PDP Chairman put it, “during these months, the state government received monies from the Federation Account amounting to over N243 billion. It received four tranches of debt refunds amounting to over N30 billion and borrowed various sums of money from banks amounting to over N70 billion.
“These receipts, loans, internally generated revenue and the more than N14.5 billion left in various accounts by the then PDP administration ought to make Katsina one of the wealthiest states in the country, with close to N400 billion in 31 months.
“In real terms, this month translates to N13 billion monthly or N464 million daily. What this means is that the state government spends N16,571,428 million every hour of the day.
“It is also common knowledge that the government which campaigned on the promises of free speech as one of its cardinal values has become syn oppressor-government which jails citizens with reckless abandon.
“We have also witnessed how government which promised open and transparent activities has turned around to close all its books to the public.”