The Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has said that the ongoing reconciliation of members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state was moving smoothly without any hitch, contrary to a media report.
He described as misleading a story about a purported crisis in the party by an online newspaper, Opera News, titled “Niger Senators Shun Governor Bello Peace Parley, As Crisis in the Party Deepens”.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mrs. Mary Noel-Berje, quoted the governor in a statement she issued in Minna as saying he found it “compelling and expedient” to reply to the “orchestrated online social media report”.
He said the report, written by one John Adams, was “aimed to discredit and make unwary yet unsuspecting members of the APC and the public believe that the party is divided and in crisis in the state.”
Bello, who is also the Chairman of the North-central States Governors’ Forum (NCSGF), said the report, was “not only untrue and fact-twisting but also misleading.”
Contrary to the story, he said, the APC reconciliatory meetings did not suffer any setback because the reach-out was an ongoing process which would take the party through various constituencies, local governments and ward levels in the state.
He said: “Our reconciliatory effort hasn’t suffered any setback, rather it is in progress and is already yielding the desired result. We are on track and cannot be distracted by a social media outfit that has no knowledge of the Niger politics.”
Bello noted that the absence of some members of the National Assembly at one of the reconciliatory meeting was not a yardstick to assume that the ongoing exercise, which had barely commenced, was a setback or that the party was in crisis.
He expressed regret that the media outfit and its reporter were “not only fixatedly opinionated about political issues in the ruling party and the achievements of the APC-led administration in the state but they appear to be sponsored by the opposition party.”
He said the “incessant and activated spate of negative attacks unleashed by Opera News through its reporter is a deliberate plot against the governor and the party by portraying that the party was in a state of disequilibrium.
The governor further berated the report and the writer, noting that as the party’s leader and staunch advocate of internal democracy, he ensured that “APC conducted one of the fairest, just and best party primaries ever in the state” and contributed to its success at the national level.
The press secretary pointed out that the governor had received commendations from party members and stakeholders in the state for providing a level-playing ground for all aspirants that took part in the primaries without interference or anointing any one of them.
He said despite putting the party on a strong pedestal in the state, the online media outfit “remains blinded by such unprecedented efforts because the primary intent is to depict a party in disarray.”
Bello said: “We are aware of some of these sponsored online media outfits and will not cow into their intimidating falsehood and desperately presumptive reports that are always negative and antagonistically discrediting.”
He assured that all was well with the APC in Niger, and that the Abubakar Bawa Bwari-led reconciliatory committee, set up by the State Working Committee of the party, was progressing steadily without any problem.
He reiterated the need for party members to put behind them the outcome of the concluded party primaries and forge ahead by supporting and working for all the party’s flag bearers in the overall interest and success of the party at all levels in the 2023 general elections.
