Niger State Deputy Governor, Yakubu Garba is reportedly set to resign his position over alleged disrespect and marginalisation by his principal, Governor Umaru Bago. Reports claimed that Garba started moving some of his belongings out of the official residence over the weekend.

It was not clear if the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders and traditional leaders who met with him on Sunday to persuade to remain in his position were able to convince him to stay put. A source said:

“He has substantially moved out his belongings from the official residence to his private residence. He will resign any moment from now.” Sources said the deputy governor is not happy that he is not being carried along regarding government activities.

One of the sources said: “In recent times, he was not consulted on many government activities despite being elected on the same ticket with the governor.”

It was learnt that Garba felt insulted after his preferred candidate for the local government election in his Shiroro LGA, Babangida Kudodo, was replaced with Isyaku Bawa allegedly at the behest of the governor.

Reports claimed that some other consensus candidates endorsed by party stakeholders were replaced without Garba being consulted. A source said: “Nobody consulted him on anything. “He does not have control over any part of the government.

“The deputy is treated with disrespect despite his huge contributions to the success of the party and loyalty to his principal.

“Even his monthly allowances and overhead have been ridiculously slashed.” All efforts to reach the deputy governor for comments were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.

However, his Press Secretary, Ummikhaltume Abdullahi, said she was not aware of any plan by Garba to resign.

She said: “He is not resigning. It is just a mere speculation.” Explaining Garba’s said movement of his belongings out of his official residence, Abdullahi said:

“The truth is that, before assuming office the deputy governor said that he was not going to be living in the official residence permanently.”

She added: “Whenever his children are preparing to go back to school, he usually goes back to his home to get them prepared so that they can get set for resumption.”