The Kano State Government on Friday called on the state’s governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, to exercise patience and desist from issuing official pronouncement in the form of public advisory, so as not to cause unnecessary confusion and tension in the state.
The Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, who said this in a statement, was reacting to a directive by the governor-elect warning individuals, groups and organisations undertaking construction on public places to keep off.
But the Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, in the statement described the action of the governor-elect as jumping the gun.
He stated, “Until he subscribes to the oath of office as governor in May 29, he remains what he is, a governor-elect and lacks the powers and rights of the governor. All he can do is to reverse some of the actions taken by his predecessor when he assumes office, if there is a valid reason to do so. No governor-elect has the constitutional or legal powers to determine the direction of a state until he is sworn in.”
The commissioner noted that state governors wielded enormous powers to allocate plots and therefore every government had undertaken such exercise, including the previous administration, which the governor-elect had served.
The statement also pointed out that based on available records, the previous administration also made land allocation in some of the places.
Earlier, the governor-elect on Friday unveiled his transition committee billed for inauguration on Saturday (today). A statement by his chief press secretary, Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, named the former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and NNPP’s senatorial candidate for Kano North, Dr Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, as the chairman of the committee, while a retired Permanent Secretary, Abdullahi Musa, will serve as the secretary.
The statement noted that the transition committee will among other things facilitate the orderly transfer of power from the Abdullahi Ganduje-led administration to the incoming administration. It said the inauguration would take place by 2pm.
