“I woke up this morning with a rude shock that I have pulled out of the G7 because I was not at the last meeting! Babangida Aliyu is still a member and in fact, I am the leader of G-7.”
BEVERLY HILLS, CA, October 29, (THEWILL) – The outspoken Governor of Niger State and Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, Tuesday vehemently refuted a news paper report which claimed that he had dumped the G-7 Governors and the splinter new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and returned to the Bamanga Tukur led PDP.
Governor Aliyu who berated the Daily Trust newspaper for publishing what he described as a fabricated and false report, insisted that he remains the leader of the group of Governors adding that the G-7 Governors have gone too far into the struggle to suddenly abandon it.
“This is not even the time for me or anybody in the struggle to pull out. We are still discussing with Mr. President and until he stops discussing with us that is when we will think of the next line of action… Pulling out is definitely not an option, Aliyu said in his reaction to the report, when he received the National President and other leaders of the Civil Service Union, during a courtesy visit in Minna.
Explaining further, the Governor said, “I woke up this morning with a rude shock that I have pulled out of the G7 because I was not at the meeting! Babangida Aliyu is still a member and in fact, I am the leader of G-7.
“I regard that write-up as an enemy action. It was planted by people who are interested in breaking our ranks and who try to input motive where there is none. I see the hands of some people I can identify to have sponsored this article. I urge people not to make policies relating to all they read in the papers as some of these articles are sponsored.
“The day we were to hold the meeting, I wasn’t feeling well but I had the intention to go and because my state capital is the nearest to Abuja, I usually estimate the time of arrival and drive straight to Abuja.
“On that day, I did not plan to leave Minna until 2pm since the meeting was slated for 8pm, then I got a call that the Sokoto State governor had requested a shift in time because he had a programme the next day on the opening of the state university and he requested that the meeting be shifted from 8pm to 2pm.
“So I sent an apology because there was no way I could meet up with them since I was still in Minna by 2pm. I spoke to three of my colleagues and asked them to help me tender my apologies especially as I was not feeling too well but I had intended to travel. When other of my colleagues were not around, I attended meetings on their behalf, I don’t see why my absence would be conjured to mean I have pulled out of the G-7.
“The whole essence of the G-7 is to ensure that there is democracy in the ruling party believing that if there is no democracy in PDP, there cannot be democracy in the country.
“It is not the question of saying we gang up to dump one party for the other. That is an option but that is a decision that will be taken after we have finished discussions with the President and arriving at the conclusion.”
