Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero, the former two-term governor of Kebbi state and three times senator, is once more in the eye of the storm after allegations emerged that he serially cornered and diverted at least three gigantic constituency projects worth over N1billion.
The senator representing the Central Senatorial District of the state now in his third term in the upper chamber of the National Assembly was alleged to have used his clout to corner the direly needed developments meant for the district to his farm and that of his crony.
The list of approved constituency projects in the 2017 Appropriation Act executed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, includes the construction of Feeder Road worth N200 million.
There was also the supply and installation of Central Pivot Irrigation Pumps with sprinklers also in Gante village of Kebbi Central Senatorial District worth N264 million.
Similarly, was the contract for the supply of Massey Ferguson tractors meant for farmers in Kebbi Central Senatorial District worth N200 million.
The angst of people in Aliero’s senatorial district is that Gante village is under Lafagu/Gante ward of Kaoje district in Bagudu local government area of Kebbi state. Aliero’s Labana Farm at Gante is under Kebbi North senatorial district of Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, the incumbent Senate Majority Leader.
Their anger is exacerbated by the fact that during Aliero’s first term as senator, the N2 billion Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention under the Anchors Borrowers Programme was also allegedly cornered.
The questions on the minds of everybody in the Kebbi Central Senatorial District is how much will be enough to satisfy the senator and his cohorts and when will the dividends of democracy begin to trickle down to the people for whom the projects were meant and who really need them?
With the 2023 general elections around the corner, the hapless electorate are poised to show Senator Aliero the way out. And unless he makes restitution, their next move may be to legally confisticate what rightly belongs to them. Only time will tell.
Ibrahim Dangana,
Alanbelu Sanchi,
Zuru local government area,
Kebbi state.
