The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Djaba, has warned the Northern regional chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party Bugri Naabu to stay off her tracks else “he is in for trouble”.
She alleged that Naabu has been “collecting money, goats and cows” from people to give them appointments which has backfired hence directing his anger at her.
Naabu Friday went berserk scuttling a meeting being held by Otiko in Tamale in the Northern region. The chairman accompanied by a group of rowdy women affiliated to the NPP stormed the meeting vandalizing properties in protest to what he described as the Minister’s seeming disrespect to his authority as she did not seek his consent before holding her meeting.
Describing the meeting as “illegal”, Naabu said the Gender Minister has no right to come to the region to organize a meeting without prior notice to the regional executives, observing that even the president would not do that.
“I have told the Minister point blank what she did was wrong. It is unconstitutional and therefore her meeting is illegal,” he declared to the admiration of the women accompanying him.
However, reacting to the claims, Madam Otiko told North Star Radio her chairman got it wrong, adding she was not even in the region to appoint anyone for the school feeding programme.
He “came there to throw his weight around saying we are doing school feeding matters; but we didn’t come there because of school feeding matters… Apparently, he has decided that he is in charge of everything and that he is going to give the school feeding to a particular woman.
“I don’t know how a regional chairman can do that and because he has promised it is going to that woman, he thinks I will come in and [interfere],” she said.
Otiko added: “As we speak, nobody has been appointed for school feeding as the contracts of the persons currently employed were yet to end.”
“He [Bugri Naabu] is also trying to cover up issues concerning the DCEs. I have nothing to do with DCEs. I am in Tamale. I never went to Savelugu; but he claims that I went to disrupt Savelugu DCE confirmation meanwhile they are not even doing confirmation in Savelugu today [Friday].”
Respect yourself
The livid Gender Minister served notice she will expose Bugri Naabu if he continues on same tangent with her.
“I don’t know why Chairman Bugri wants to lie and use me as a cover-up for his problems. I want Chairman Bugri to understand. Whatever it is that is making him do the things he is doing; he should be very careful. I am the last person he wants to have trouble with.
“…He should respect himself and stop lying about me. He cannot appoint school feeding people. He is not the only one in the region. He wants to be the one to appoint these people; for the Council of Elders and who and who.
“I want him to stop telling lies about me and to stop collecting people’s things and promising them jobs he cannot give. When he goes and does that, after he has collected their money and their cows and goats, then he will come and put the trouble on Otiko. Otiko will not accept it. If Bugri wants trouble from me then the trouble will come,” Otiko spewed.
