Councilors in face-off with chief of staff over unpaid allowances

Police attached to Adamawa State Governor’s Office have clashed with local government councilors over a face-off with Governor Jibrilla’s Chief of Staff, Abdurrahman Abba.

Some 226 councilors demanding outstanding allowances held a meeting with Governor Muhammadu Jibrilla at the Deputy Governor’s Office yesterday. During the charged meeting, the angry councilors urged the governor to pay their outstanding furniture and other allowances of over N858 million.

Their mood changed when Jibrilla told them he could not pay them immediately.

“The state government has no money to pay your outstanding allowances. We will do that as soon as we get money as earlier promised,” Jibrilla said.

As the elected officials listened in apparent disappointment, Jibrilla told them he had to leave, asking his chief of staff to discuss further details with them, a decision they rejected.

The councilors walked out on the Chief of Staff, some of them engaging him in exchange of words.

As the situation escalated, the chief of staff ordered the governor’s security details to arrest them, further infuriating the local government legislators.

Some policemen arrested one of them, cocking their guns to ward off resistance while the councilors surrounded them, forcing them to release him after his clothes were torn in the struggle.

Speaking earlier at the meeting with the governor, the spokesman of the councilors, Danjuma HammanAdama Nbaleri, implored the governor to release their furniture allowance of over N3 million each.