Tension as Yero fires Yakowa’s aides, SSG!

Palpable fear has gripped commissioners and other top government officials in Kaduna State following the sack yesterday by Governor Mukhtar Yero of his late predecessor’s Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Lawal Samaila Abdullahi; the Principal Private Secretary, PPS, Yohanna Alamagani and the Chief of Staff, Aboki Galadima.

The governor, however, appointed Ishaq Hamza Dan’Mahawayi as the new SSG; Yahaya Aminu Abdulahi as the Chief of Staff while Abdulahi Ahmed Maiyaki is the new Director-General, Media and Publicity.

Aliyu Samalia is the new Principal Private Secretary while the new Special Adviser on Politics is Madami Garba Madami.

Yesterday’s appointment was the first since Yero became governor last year following the death of his former boss, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, in a Navy helicopter crash.

The appointment also jitters among the other political appointees appointed by the late governor as no one is sure of his fate in the new dispensation.

A statement signed by the Commissioner of Information and Home Affairs, Saidu Adamu, yesterday said; “His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, has approved the appointment of the following: Ishaq Hamza Dan’ Mahawayi as secretary to the Kaduna state government; Chief of Staff, Yahaya Aminu Abdulahi; Director- General Media and Publicity, Abdulahi Ahmed Maiyaki; Principal Private Secretary, Aliyu Samalia and Special Adviser Political, Madami Garba Madami, while Nathaniel K. Hayab, remain the Head of Service.

“All appointments are with effect from 10th January, 2013.”

National Mirror had earlier reported that Yero would drop some political appointees of the late governor and replace them with more reliable hands.

National Mirror also gathered that most commissioners in the state and other political appointees have started preparing their handover notes as the sack hammer may soon fall on them.

A reliable source said that some commissioners had been mobilising traditional rulers and close allies of the governor to persuade him to save their jobs.

“It is unbelievable, some political appointees who failed to print a single poster for late governor’s burial placed congratulatory advertorials in some newspapers for Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero’s wife birthday to appease her and launch themselves in the new government. Some have contacted their traditional rulers to meet Governor Yero over their job.”