Protesters besiege Jigawa Govt House, demand sacking of commissioner

Protesters from Ringim Local Government Area of Jigawa State on Thursday marched to the Government House in Dutse to demand the sacking of the state’s agriculture commissioner, Muttaka Namadi.

Mr Namadi is from Ringim LGA. However, the protesters alleged that he has not represented the area well in the state executive council.

They blocked the main entrance of the Government House chanting abusive slogans in expressing their disappointment with his performance and demanding his removal.

One of the organisers of the protest, Abdullahi Muhammad, said the protesters are members of the state’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) drawn from the 10 political wards and 220 polling units of the Ringim LGA.

“We have come here to formally lodge our complaints against the Commissioner for Agriculture, Muttaka Namadi because of his poor representation of our community. We have spoken to him several times to carry everybody along in the area, but he turned deaf ear to our demand.

“Our position is in compliance with the governor’s instructions to his political appointees to carry along members of their constituents and assist them.

“However, since our commissioner, who is from our local government area, has refused to heed the governor’s instructions, we have no option than to demand his removal from the cabinet as our representative and another person appointed.

“Apart from the fact that he does not assist the people of his constituency, his actions have dampened our morale as party faithful in the area. As a party leader from our local government area, he has not inspired us”, Mr Muhammad said.

The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mustapha Makama, and the state APC chairperson, Aminu Sani, received the protesters and promised to deliver their message to Governor Umar Namadi.

Mr Sani acknowledged the complaints of the protesters, but appealed to them to be patient and allow the party and the governor to handle the situation.

He commended them for their peaceful conduct and assured them that their complaints would be addressed to their satisfaction.

PREMIUM TIMES tried to get Mr Namadi to speak on the allegations against him but his known phone number didn’t connect Thursday evening.

Governor Namadi had in January made his appointees to sign a bond to perform or get sacked.

The governor said the performance bond was meant to commit officials to be dedicated in their assignments upon which they would be assessed quarterly and yearly.

He added that he had signed an executive order establishing a results delivery and performance management coordination unit under his office.