Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago said he was quoted out of context and wrongly presented in a viral video circulating social media of him directing the state civil servants to dress in a particular form.
Governor Bago in the said video where he spoke in Hausa purportedly asked civil servants not to be wearing “Baba Riga and Caftan” and that they should brace up and start going to farm.
However, he has recanted in a statement signed by his chief press secretary Bologi Ibrahim who said the video going viral on social media platforms where the governor was captured saying civil servants from Mondays to Thursdays should not dress in native attire popularly called ‘Baba Riga’ in Hausa language, did not capture the statement in its original context.
“Mr Governor believes that, as a state, we have no reason to be poor because of the enormous agricultural potentials of the state and that his government was already investing heavily in the agricultural revolution, hence the need for all to collectively embrace farming including the civil servants,” Ibrahim stated.
He said the governor was only encouraging civil servants to be farmers and to be good farmers. According to Ibrahim, the governor merely encouraged the public workers to always dress smartly to farm which he said “did not in any way imply that civil servants now have a dress code to office from Monday to Thursday as erroneously captured in the video making the rounds.”
He said the governor did not announce or mandate any dress code for the civil servants, rather he meant every professional should be dressed based on the demands of his or her job.
He claimed that the viral video was “curiously and mischievously” edited to malign the governor, stressing that the general public must disregard the clip because the full video clearly defines what he meant.
He, therefore, advised social media influencers to be mindful and sure of the contents and context of the information they circulate on social media to avoid misrepresentations of facts.
