From Maiharaji Altine
Zamfara state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has kicked against Governor Dauda Lawal’s claim that his administration has distributed 81,000 bags of fertilizer to farmers in the state free of charge.
Recall that, Governor Lawal had last week flagged off the distribution of free fertilizer to farmers in the state, totalling 81,000 bags which he said was purchased by this administration.
But in a statement, the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) refuted Lawal’s claim, saying that, the commodity was the state government’s allocation from the Federal government, under the NG-Cares.
The statement which was signed by the spokesperson of the APC in the state, Alhaji Yusuf Idris said, Governor Lawal did not purchase the fertilizer he claimed to have distributed to farmers free of charge, but rather collected the commodity from the Federal government.
Idris expressed disgust over Governor Lawal’s inability to give credit to President Bola Tinubu’s administration that has allocated the fertilizer to the state under its NG-Cares program.
The statement reads in parts as follows:-
“Governor Lawal has announced the distribution of 135 trucks of fertilizer to the state’s farming community, which was flagged off last Tuesday but left many unanswered questions on the lips of the people”.
“According to a release that trailed the flagging off of 81,000 bags of the commodity will be distributed to a total of 40,500 farmers free of charge but failed to state how the beneficiaries would be identified or selected at a time when the wet season farming has gone more than halfway into the rainy season”.
“Most importantly, since such fertilizer fell under the federal government’s NG-Cares program, where is the fertilizer that the state government bought for its farmers to even buy at subsidized rate?.
“Nigerian citizens are aware how the federal government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration distributed hundreds of trucks of fertilisers to states for distribution to farmers, Zamfara State inclusive”.
“The Governor failed to inform people of the state how many trucks Zamfara State received from the federal government during the launching, in order to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agricultural transformation policy as being done by various state governors”.
“As citizens of Zamfara State, we never knew when was there any bidding for the contract for the supply of fertilizer to the state and at what cost and quantity is the product to be supplied”.
“The government also failed to inform the people of the state when the executive council approved for the supply of fertilizer, nor has there been any information regarding the state House of Assembly indicating any knowledge of this magnitude”.
On the issue of banditry which Governor Lawal claimed to have overcome, the APC said, the current security situation was worse than ever before.
The party advised the Governor to stop deceiving the people of the state particularly the farming communities through media.
“Then we saw the Governor on Channels TV announcing that the farmers could now freely access their farmlands because his government has improved the security situation in the state”.
“This is callously ridiculous because more farmers have now, more than ever before been barred by the increasing number of bandits from getting to their farms”.
“The Governor while sitting in the comfort of his luxuries, does not seem to know or care about the plight of the people but is using rogue journalists, rogue media outlets and rogue social media handlers to send out false information always”.
The statement finally reminded Governor Lawal that APC in the state was taking note of all the happenings in his government and would continue to inform the people of the state so that they would not be deceived.
