By Emmanuel Aziken

ABUJA — The gulf between Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and his predecessor in office Alhaji Abdulkadir Kure is now so wide that they can never again be reconciled, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (PDP, Niger-East) has said.

Kuta, who claimed to have mediated without success in the crisis between Aliyu and Kure in an interview, accused some state elders of stoking the crisis for their own personal benefit.

Kuta, who served as the first Secretary to the State Government under Governor Kure between 1999 and 2002 and is said to be close political associates of Governor Aliyu, however, did not name the elders involved.

“I do not believe that the Governor and the former Governor will ever reconcile. We have put in every effort to reconcile the two and anytime we attempt any reconciliation, at the end it appears as if we are aggravating it,”  he said, even as he affirmed that the state will get over the crisis between the two men.

“As this matter has reached the stage it is now I don’t believe that there is anyway anybody can reconcile the former Governor and the present Governor. I don’t think it is possible,’’ he further asserted.

Giving reasons why the conflict has persisted, Kuta who is vice-chairman of the Senate committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Anti-Corruption identified a communication gap which he said has been widened by personalities around the two men.