Niger State Governor Umar Bago has admitted fabricating claims about paying graduate assistants N500,000 on his farms, saying it was meant to attract investors, as a student critic faces prosecution.
Niger State Governor, Umar Bago, has confessed that he lied about paying graduate assistants N500,000 to work on his farms, stating the claim was made to attract investors.
The governor had boasted during the World Food Day celebration in Lagos on October 16 that he paid graduate assistants N500,000 to work on his farm estates. He also said he built farm communities where workers lived and cultivated land allocated based on their needs and capacity. Bago described the initiative as key to promoting agricultural investment.
However, during an interrogation session with student activist Isah Mokwa at the Government House on Friday, the governor admitted that his earlier statement was false. “The statement about paying graduate assistants N500,000 was only to attract investors,” a source quoted Bago as saying.
Sources said Mokwa, a master’s student at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, and a known critic of the governor, was arrested on Bago’s orders. He is known for mocking the governor on social media, often calling him “Governor Amunike.”
SaharaReporters learned that after being taken to the Government House, Mokwa was interrogated and later charged with cybercrimes, cyberbullying, and potentially thuggery and terrorism.
According to sources, his release may not be imminent as “orders from above” reportedly directed his continued detention.
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