GOVERNOR Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has ordered his deputy, to stop attending state executive council meetings following his defection from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

 Last month, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, the Niger State deputy governor left the PDP and joined the APC, declaring his support for its presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari. Alhaji Ibeto was at the Minna airport to welcome General Buhari when he went to Niger State to campaign and has urged his supporters to back the APC in the forthcoming elections.

 Although Governor Aliyu said he would not move against his deputy for abandoning the PDP, yesterday, the chasm came to a head. It appears the differences between both men were no longer tenable as Governor Aliyu alleged that Alhaji Ibeto called him a thief during one of his campaigns.

 Governor Aliyu has now declared that he would not chair a meeting where his deputy was seated and subsequently asked Alhaji Aliyu to leave the council chambers during a meeting earlier this week. He apparently said that his deputy could use information gathered at such meetings against the PDP and Alhaji Ibeto hurriedly left for his office after Governor Aliyu allegedly threatened to use the security agents against him.

 However, Israel Ebire, Governor Aliyu's chief press secretary denied that the deputy governor was chased out of the meeting, saying that Alhaji Ibeto had sought a permission to stay away and this was granted. He added that apart from the permission granted, the state government also told him that he would still be enjoying all the benefits of the office.

 Mr Ebire said: “The deputy governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, asked the council to excuse him from the Wednesday meeting when issues concerning the general elections were being presented. He is now in the opposition and the right thing to do, on moral grounds, was to leave the meeting.

 “The deputy governor is smart enough to realise that he cannot sit in council and listen to the political strategies of the PDP or be seen either as a mole for the APC or as an unnecessary distraction. It is clear he cannot operate within the reasoning of the PDP-led council hence he had to take the most honourable decision.”

 However, Alhaji Ibeto said: “If this statement is coming from the government, let me react and say is not true that I excused myself. When I received notification for the council meeting of Wednesday I went as usual but before the council started, the governor in his opening remarks said that people and members of the executive council were aware that I have defected from the PDP to the APC and that we had gone on campaign round the state.

"He said that he had the information and clips that I called him a thief and that he would not preside over the council where I am sitting. I objected and explained that I have never called him a thief and that everywhere we go, people always wanted to know why I defected to the APC and I have been telling them I left the PDP because of the injustice in the party."

He added that the governor said he was no longer sure that his deputy would not use council deliberations against the PDP government. Alhaji Ibeto said that although he quietly left the meeting as a law abiding citizen after the governor had threatened to use the security against him, he was studying the relevant provisions of the constitution to know his next line of action.

 “I will challenge the governor’s undemocratic action in court appropriately. If I am stopped from attending council meetings, whatever decisions taken at such meetings are null and void,” Alhaji Ibeto added.