Abubakar Sani Bello, the governor of Niger State and chairman of the North Central States Governors Forum (NCSGF), has emphasized the urgent need to respond to a staged online social media post that criticizes the state’s All Progressive Congress (APC) government.
In a statement released in Minna, the governor’s chief press secretary, Mary Noel-Berje, claimed that the report, written by a man named John Adams, was intended to discredit the APC and to lead the public and unwary party members to believe that the party is split and experiencing problems in the state.
The web article from Opera News with the headline “Niger Senators Shun Governor Bello Peace Parley, As Crisis in the Party Deepens” is not only false and factually incorrect, but also deceptive.
Contrary to the claim, according to Governor Sani Bello, there were no setbacks in the APC reconciliatory sessions because the outreach is a continuous process that will take the party across numerous constituencies, local governments, and Ward levels in the state.
“Our attempts at reconciliation haven’t faced any setbacks; rather, they are ongoing and already producing the desired results. We are on the right route and must not be derailed by a Social Media group that is ignorant about Niger politics, the governor declared.
The Governor made the point that it is not reasonable to conclude that the ongoing effort, which had only just begun, is failing or that the party is in trouble because some members of the National Assembly did not attend one of the reconciliatory meetings.
He expressed displeasure over the Online Social Media outlet’s reporter’s apparent sponsorship by the opposition party in addition to the reporter’s fixation on opining about political matters involving the ruling party and the accomplishments of the APC-led administration in the state.
He claims that Opera News’s reporter has been unleashing an ongoing and active barrage of negative attacks against the Governor and the Party in an effort to create the impression that the party is in disarray.
Governor Sani Bello, who criticized the report and the author, pointed out that as the party’s leader and a staunch supporter of internal democracy, he made sure that the APC held one of the fairest, justest, and best party primaries ever in the state and helped to ensure its success at the national level as well.
The Governor also garnered praise from party members and stakeholders in the state for ensuring that all candidates who participated in the primaries had an equal opportunity to win, without interfering with or endorsing any one candidate.
Despite placing the party on a high pedestal within the state, he claimed that the online social media group is still blinded by such extraordinary efforts because their major goal is to portray a party in disarray.
The Governor said, “We are aware of some of these sponsored Online Media firms and will not submit to their intimidating falsity and urgently presumptuous reports that are invariably negative and antagonistically discouraging.
The APC’s State Working Committee established a reconciliatory committee under the leadership of Abubakar Bawa Bwari, and according to Governor Sani Bello, everything is going smoothly for the party in Niger.
He emphasized the necessity for party members to go past the results of the recently finished primaries and continue by supporting and working for all of the party’s flag bearers in the sake of the party’s overall success at all levels in the next general elections in 2023.