Yuguda sacks all aides numbering 1040 – Calls them sycophants

Posted by admin Bauchi, Headlines, State News Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Barely two weeks after his re-election, the Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda has sacked all his political office holders numbering about 1,040 with effect from May 16, 2011. This was contained in a press release signed by the Permanent Secretary, Political Affairs, Hashimu Yakubu on behalf of Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Dandija.

It stated that all commissioners, chairmen and members of parastatals and extra ministerial departments should prepare their handing over notes and hand over their various ministries and parastatals to the permanent secretaries or the most senior directors where there was no Permanent Secretary by May 16.
The statement further stated that all other political appointees, comprising of special advisers, senior special assistants, special assistants and personal assistants were also to prepare their handing over notes and hand them over to the heads of the various organisations to which they were attached, on the said date.
It explained that chairmen and members of statutory commissions, comprising of Civil Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission and state Independent Electoral Commission were not affected by this development.

The statement stated that the governor expressed gratitude to all political office holders for contributing to the success of his administration in the last four years.
It added: “While appreciating the support given for his re-election by political office holders, His Excellency wishes them the best in their future endeavours.”
Governor Yuguda had last week declared that he was surrounded by sycophants, who formed a shield between him and the electorate, thereby sabotaging his good intention for the people of his state in the last four years.
The Governor, who spoke on the state-owned station BRC, had promised to do away with all of them in order for his second tenure as the Governor to be a huge success to the benefit of the people of the state.

“I am assuring the people of Bauchi State that I have demolished this shield from now on and by the special grace of Allah, I will make sure that I visit at least two local governments a month. I will also visit wards in the state to listen to them and know what their problem is,” he had said.
A visibly disturbed Yuguda further said in the programme that having been able to meet with the people at the grassroots during his campaigns before the general elections, the electorate should be sure that their problems had been solved, declaring that henceforth, nobody, no matter his status would stand between him and the people.

He had stressed that all the good efforts by his administration in the last four years to ensure that the people enjoyed benefits of democracy was stalled by the sycophants who he accused of always suppressing information from him, while all funds meant for the execution of projects and programmes in most areas of the state were diverted to private usages.
Meanwhile, Yuguda has appealed to Journalists to be more objective in their various reports and be more engaged in developmental journalism in the interest of national unity.

Speaking to news men in Bauchi yesterday, the Governor opined that Journalists, as stakeholders in nation building, should always strive to use their profession to unite the country and project its image before the international community as a progressing nation desirous of support to achieve its goals in nation building.
According to him, “journalism is a noble profession for mature people as the world relies more on its reports to proffer solutions to lingering problems that should not be allowed to be played with for any selfish reason”.
Yuguda further added that Nigerian Journalists should always strive to be objective and report events as they unfold themselves and should be jealous of their profession to guard against its penetration by quacks.

He said:“In so many circumstances, I was misquoted by reporters and instead of them to retrieve those stories or apologize for the error, I am always left with the task of doing the damage control which is not supposed to be the case in an ideal situation.”
Referring to a recent newspaper report on the untimely death of some youth corps members who were brutally murdered by hoodlums during the unfortunate post-presidential election violence that erupted in some parts of the state on April 18, 2011, Isa Yuguda revealed that as a leader, who swore by the Holy Qur’an to protect lives and property of all irrespective of any inclination, he was heavily touched by the death of those young graduates.

The Governor also said that, “There was nothing I could do at that material time to save the lives of those patriots in the villages they were attacked. But when the news reached me on the violent attacks, I acted swiftly and got those remaining corps-member evacuated from their respective duty posts to the State security training school in Bauchi for safety. I visited the camp, consoled them and provided them with their immediate requirements including security while planning for further action”

He however regreted that, “when the news was reported by a cross section of the media, my statement was twisted to suit a purpose and I was portrayed as somebody very insensitive that has no regard for human lives.That was very bad”.
Governor Yuguda further revealed that as of now, several arrests were made and some of those miscreants arrested are facing prosecution in the courts in connection to the violence, “when they are finished, I will not hesitate to sign the death of any person found guilty by the court”, he affirmed.
The Governor then appealed to the Federal Government to immortalize those patriots who lost their lives in the service of their father land apart from the N500 million Appeal Fund that will be launched by his administration in favour of those who lost their lives and property during the violence in the State.

-Sunwp_posts