• Niger Governor Keeps Mum
By Kolawole Ojebisi
In what appears to be a scene from a well-scripted movie, the Niger State Ministry of Works and Infrastructural Development and a radio station in the state have sparked controversy over the authenticity of a viral audio and the identity of the speaker therein.
This is as the state Ministry of Works accused the radio station, Prestige FM, of manipulating technology to clone the voice of the state governor.
The controversy was sparked following a report by Prestige FM where it allegedly quoted Governor Mohammed Bago as saying that he uncovered sharp practices from the Ministry of Works’ Engineers, Consultants, and Contractors in the New Niger Projects.
When the radio station was contacted by newsmen about the allegation, the News Editor of Prestige Radio, Mustapha Bina, asserted that he has both the video and audio tapes to back up the organisation’s report.
“The governor made the remarks and I have both audio and video tapes of where the governor was saying it was a shame and he was disappointed with the consultants for not bringing the activities of the contractors to his notice.
“How can the ministry say we clonned the governor’s voice? That is outrageous. The tapes are in public space. No station that’s worth its salt will clone the voice of a state governor,” Bina said.
Meanwhile, Public Relations Officer of the ministry, Ismaila Favu, has debunked allegation of sharp practices leveled against engineers, consultants and contractors of the Ministry in the ongoing road construction works in the state.
Favu maintained that the radio station clonned the governor’s voice using an audio clip in a statement issued on Tuesday morning.
The ministry’s spokeman insisted that the governor never made such a remark, stressing that the journalist used modern technological tools to create a voice similar to that of the governor to add credibility to the report.
Favu described the report as “misleading and mischievous”, adding that it was intended to tarnish the image of the ministry, its contractors, and officials.
“The attention of the Niger State Ministry of Works has been drawn to an audio clip circulating on various social media platforms, alleging that the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has uncovered sharp practices involving engineers, consultants, and contractors engaged in execution of New Niger Projects of the current administration.
“The ministry wishes to categorically state that the content of the audio clip – which originated from a news broadcast of Prestige FM aired on Thursday, May 22, 2025 is misleading, mischievous, and intended to tarnish the image of the ministry, its contractors, and officials.
“It is also a failed attempt to incite the hardworking farmer governor and general public against the ministry.
“We suspect that the motive of the so-called journalist behind this baseless and poorly packaged report is to blackmail the ministry officials and contractors. It is a product of bad journalism and should be disregarded .
“It should be noted that this futile attempt to fabricate stories under the guise of journalism is unethical, unprofessional, and unacceptable.
“In the deliberate attempt to mislead the public and execute what seems like a hatchet job, the journalist used modern technological tools to create a voice similar to that of the governor to add credibility to the report,” the statement from the works ministry read in part.
