Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday explained that the appointment of the Speaker of the House of Assembly as the acting governor when he travelled for lesser Hajj was not to spite the deputy governor or his office.

Aliyu added that he had received a letter intimating him that his deputy will also be going for lesser hajj, saying he assumed the deputy governor also travelled out of the country as there was a notification letter to that effect.

The governor who stated this yesterday when he signed the 2015 appropriations bill into law said the notification letter was the reason he asked the speaker to serve as the acting governor.

He said since his deputy told him he was travelling out of the country at the same time he (the governor) was also travelling, it was constitutionally right to hand over the affairs of the state to the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

“The Speaker had to be the acting governor because my deputy was not in town for me to verify if he was travelling out of the country or not.

“Without any discussion, I saw a letter that he wants to travel for lesser Hajj, I saw the deputy governor on the television attending a meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) where he had defected to and I assumed that he would leave for the lesser hajj from Abuja and since I could not get him, the constitutional thing was to appoint the speaker as the acting governor.

“The appointment of the acting governor was no to spite anyone. The deputy governor is still the deputy governor of the state until the end of our tenure,” Aliyu explained.

Speaking further on the ejection of the deputy governor from the government house, the governor explained that right from the outset, the deputy governor’s office had not been in the government house.

“Many of you are aware that before I came in as governor, the office of the deputy governor was not in the government house. I was the one who felt that he needed to stay close to me, that we were one ticket and if a ticket decides to cut into two and there is a bigger size of the ticket, I just think people just say and write what they want to write.

“This is a straight forward issue for me. Constitutionally, he is still the deputy governor, he will function as the deputy governor and if he is available, ‎why not? He would be the acting governor,” he said.

The governor signed the 2015 appropriation bill passed by the House of Assembly last week into law.

The assembly had approved a total of N80, 815 402,545 out of which N42, 164,221 001 is for recurrent expenditure while N38, 651,181,544 is for capital estimates.

Aliyu directed the state Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission to ensure strictness in the disbursement of funds for the execution of projects.

He also swore in three returning commissioners, Alhaji Yussuf Tagwai was posted to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Abbas Bello will be in charge of the Ministry of the Environment while Hajia Hassana Adamu will take charge of the Ministry of Women Affairs.