The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the Sokoto State Government of booking hotel rooms across the state capital ahead of its presidential campaign flag-off. According to Bello Aliyu Goronyo, Director General of the campaign organisation of the ADC governorship candidate in Sokoto State, the government booked rooms for five days, leaving other visitors, including those attending the opposition party’s event, struggling to secure accommodation. The ADC had begun making reservations the previous week but was later informed that hotel operators had been summoned to a meeting and directed to comply with the government’s booking arrangements.
Goronyo alleged that a commissioner called a hotel manager while an ADC representative was present and questioned why the manager had not complied with the directive to hand over the room keys. The manager subsequently apologised to the party’s representative and declined to accept their payment after the commissioner’s directives. The hotel manager told the party that the government had paid for the rooms until the following Monday. Goronyo accused the government of misusing taxpayers’ money, arguing that the funds could have been spent on essential services such as healthcare, drinking water and roads.
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said the government’s hotel reservations were intended to accommodate guests expected in Sokoto for a traditional title ceremony, not to frustrate the ADC’s campaign activities. The State’s APC Secretary, Barrister Muhammad Bello Abdullahi, told Daily Trust that Governor Ahmed Aliyu had requested hotel rooms for guests coming from different states to attend the ceremony. He said about 80 per cent of those expected to receive traditional titles were APC members.
Abdullahi challenged the ADC to establish whether the government had booked all hotels in Sokoto or had only reserved rooms in major hotels for its guests. He also pointed out that renovation work at the old and new government lodges had contributed to the need to secure hotel accommodation for visiting guests. Abdullahi dismissed suggestions that the reservations were intended to disrupt the ADC’s activities, saying his party did not consider the opposition campaign a threat.
The Sokoto State Commissioner for Commerce, Trade and Industry, Haruna Abbas Bashir, said he was unaware of the hotel bookings and that the matter did not fall under his ministry’s responsibility. “I do not know about it. I also heard people talking about it,” he said. The controversy followed an earlier Facebook post by the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Sokoto Zone, Prof. Abubakar Sabo.
Sabo alleged that hotels in the state capital had been booked by the government of the state. He told Daily Trust that he personally struggled to secure accommodation for business associates who travelled from Kaduna to meet him in Sokoto. Sabo said he contacted at least six prominent hotels in the metropolis but was unable to obtain rooms, forcing him to accommodate the visitors in his house.
A hotel manager confirmed that the government had booked every room in the hotel for five days, from Wednesday to Sunday. The manager initially asked a Daily Trust reporter whether the prospective guests were politicians and requested that the reporter call back after 20 minutes. During the subsequent call, the manager said the hotel was full but later revealed that the government had booked the rooms.
Key points
- The ADC accused the Sokoto State Government of booking hotel rooms to frustrate its presidential campaign flag-off.
- The APC said the government’s hotel reservations were for a traditional title ceremony, not to disrupt the ADC’s campaign.
- A hotel manager confirmed that the government had booked every room in the hotel for five days.
