The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouk, has dismissed allegations of vote-buying in favour of her husband, Saddique Abubakar, who is contesting for governor in Bauchi State under the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Some elders under the auspices of the Bauchi Elders for Sustainable Development who made the allegations had called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to immediately suspend the minister.
Speaking during a press conference on behalf of the Forum at the Nigerian Union of Journalists Secretariat in Bauchi on Sunday, Yahaya Sulaiman said it was necessary for Buhari to check the minister’s activities which he claimed was capable of causing disaffection and breach of peace among people of the state.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouk, has dismissed allegations of vote-buying in favour of her husband, Saddique Abubakar, who is contesting for governor in Bauchi State under the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Some elders under the auspices of the Bauchi Elders for Sustainable Development who made the allegations had called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately suspend the minister.
Speaking during a press conference on behalf of the Forum at the Nigerian Union of Journalists Secretariat in Bauchi on Sunday, Yahaya Sulaiman said it was necessary for Buhari to check the minister’s activities which he claimed was capable of causing disaffection and breach of peace among people of the state.
He added that such an urgent move would create a peaceful atmosphere for the general election to hold saying that “otherwise, the conduct of the 2023 general election in Bauchi is being threatened by the action of the minister.”
“Part of the resolutions we arrived at is to remind Mr President of the roles we played in his election, the two terms he spent as President. We feel that he should not pay us back by trying to impose someone upon the people of the state as governor.
“We know that President Buhari is a person who cannot be associated with any corruption allegation. But, as it is now, there is an issue which requires his urgent attention and action before it escalates, we are sure that he is not aware of it or he has been shielded by a few people.
“We salute his courage for the rebranding of the naira notes to curb vote-buying but something is happening now, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development is going on with its activities despite the ongoing development in the country.
“The officials of the Ministry are going about collecting data of people with the hope of making money transfers to their accounts at this period of election. This can amount to vote-buying which may sway the attention of the electorate away from what they may have in mind to do,” Suleiman alleged.
He claimed that they got information about what is happening at the Ministry through some of the officials adding that the Ministry is getting its allocation from the federal purse but using it on some sections of the state under the pretence of helping women and other vulnerable people.
According to him, “what is happening can be likened to vote buying with the intention of swaying votes in favour of the APC governorship candidate, Amb Saddique Abubakar.”
But in a swift reaction during a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Nneka Anibieze, who dismissed the allegations as false and a misrepresentation, laughed and said, “because it’s Bauchi and her husband is contesting, that makes it vote-buying?”
According to her, the action of the Minister was not new but something that she inherited when she came into office, explaining that the Conditional Cash Transfers was being done in all states of the federation, “so, what is this vote-buying? Is it because elections are fast approaching?”
Anibieze added, “We have these programmes in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. it’s not just Bauchi. We have the N-Power, we have the Homegrown School Feeding, we have Cash Grants for rural women that is now Cash Grants for Vulnerable Groups. We also have uplifting households where every household is receiving N5,000 monthly, N10,000 bi-monthly. Then the cash grants for vulnerable groups is N50,000 as a one-off thing.
“So, is it because they’re now putting it in their accounts? Before, these people were complaining that we were carrying cash up and down; now all these beneficiaries have been digitised, they’ve open accounts for them, which will be easier for them to receive money.”
When asked if the Ministry ought not to have suspended the disbursement of the money till after the elections to avoid suspicion, she said, “it’s a continuous thing. Whether we are there or not, this thing will continue.”
She added, “It was there before the Minister came in, it was there under the office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. She came in and inherited it, it is not as if she has added any new name, it is still the same register that she is using. And remember, this money is paid by the World Bank directly into their accounts. So, what’s vote-buying in this? I think there’s a misrepresentation there. If anybody is scared of something, it’s their problem. But it is far from vote-buying and elections.” – Punch.
