The Media Office of Hon. Manir Muhammad Dan’iya, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Governorship Candidate in Sokoto State, has described the latest response by the APC-led Sokoto State Government to questions about its revenue and performance as an attempt to divert public attention from the central issue of accountability.
Rather than provide a comprehensive account of the resources received and the results delivered since assuming office in May 2023, the government has chosen to reopen arguments about a previous administration.
The people of Sokoto deserve more than political recriminations; they deserve verifiable facts about the performance of the government currently in office.
In a statement signed by his Media Aide, Aminu Abdullahi, Dan’iya said the APC’s argument that FAAC allocations are publicly available misses the point. Public availability of monthly allocation figures does not remove the government’s responsibility to provide a consolidated account of its receipts, internally generated revenue, grants, loans, expenditure and project delivery over a defined period. The question is not whether individual FAAC figures can be found online; it is whether the government can present a clear, reconciled and independently verifiable picture of the total resources received and how they have been used. Transparency requires more than telling citizens to search for information themselves.
Dan’iya also faulted the government’s attempt to make former Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal the centre of every response to criticism of Governor Ahmed Aliyu.
Tambuwal is not the ADC candidate for the 2027 governorship election, nor is he the person currently occupying the Sokoto Government House.
The contest ahead is between the candidates seeking to govern the state, and the relevant question is what each has done, what each proposes to do and how each can be held accountable.
Tambuwal is not your mate in this contest, and attacking his record will not answer questions about the performance of the present administration.
The irony, Dan’iya noted, is that the Tambuwal administration was not politically or administratively disconnected from many individuals now serving in the APC government. Several political actors associated with the present administration operated within the same broader political landscape during that period, while Dan’iya himself served as Deputy Governor. It is therefore simplistic to use blanket condemnation of that administration as a substitute for defending current performance. If the APC believes the previous government failed in particular areas, it should identify those failures with evidence and demonstrate precisely how its own administration has corrected them.
On claims that the previous administration left unpaid gratuities, salary delays, electricity liabilities, student-fee obligations and other debts, Dan’iya said such assertions should be supported with official records showing the amounts inherited, the dates and terms of the liabilities, payments made by the present government and the balances remaining. The same standard should apply to claims about the implementation of the minimum wage, the recruitment of 3,100 workers, 2,400 health workers and 1,550 Sokoto Marshall personnel, as well as the completion of the Rijiya Flyover, Tashar Illela project and other infrastructure. These are matters that can be established through payroll records, recruitment documentation, audited accounts, contract documents and physical verification—not merely through press statements.
Dan’iya challenged Governor Ahmed Aliyu’s administration to publish a comprehensive performance report covering revenue received since May 2023, state and local government finances, inherited liabilities, new borrowing, expenditure and the status of major projects. If the government maintains that it has delivered tangible development, it should provide project-by-project evidence, including contract sums, payments, completion dates and the benefits residents now enjoy. The ADC candidate remains prepared to have the records of the different administrations examined on their merits, but insists that the government currently in office must answer for its own decisions and outcomes. As Dan’iya maintains, a government cannot establish its own success merely by declaring that its predecessor was worse. The people of Sokoto deserve evidence, accountability and measurable progress.
