The Gombe State All Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) gubernatotial for the 2023 elections, Alhaji Khamisu Mailantarki, has disparaged incumbent Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for sacrificing the future of the state on the alter borrowings.
In an exclusive interview with the Punch, Mailantarki also berated Gov. Yahaya for insensitivity to the welfare of serving and retired workers in the state.
About the governor’s borrowing spree, Mailantarki said: “I cautioned the governor because I was part of the process that brought the him on board and I know that during our campaign, the APC campaign, we strongly emphasised that the previous government borrowed a lot of money” stressing, “It was one of our campaign points.”
He expressed disappointment: “We didn’t expect that when we come into government, it would be the same, if not worse,” pointing out, “Now if you look at the record, Gombe State Government has borrowed more than N100bn within the last three years.”
The NNPP governorship candidate lamented that the pileup of debts on Gombe during Yahaya’s administration in three years is “more than what the PDP government borrowed in eight years,” saying, “This was not what we promised or what the APC government promised the people of the state.”
He queried: “What are we doing with all this money?”, arguing, “If you go to Gombe State, the people are paying revenue, government is taking loans and people are crying. There are no good schools, books, teachers, no scholarship.”
Mailanyarki blasted Gov. Yahaya on his insensitivity to workers’ plight, lamenting that currently, local government retirees are yet to get their gratuity. Also, the present local government workers don’t benefit from the N30,000 minimum wage.
“When we (NNPP) come on board, we assure the people of Gombe State that we will do whatever it is to end the abnormalities and make every person, especially the civil servants, happy,” Mailantarki stated.
He assured that an NNPP administration would do the needful to end what he described as injustices and irregularities within the shortest period of time, stressing, “This is what we are assuring the people of Gombe State.”
