By Aliyu Dangida— Dutse

The Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman, was, on Friday, forced to postpone the commissioning of a transmission substation at Gagarawa Local Government Area of Jigawa State, when Governor Muhammed Badaru Abubakar snubbed the ceremony.

To be commissioned at 10am was a new 2x60MVA 132/33KV substation at Gagarawa.

But dignitaries waited at the venue for hours in the cold harmattan weather until the visibly tired Emir of Gumel, Alhaji Ahmed Muhammed Sani, left in fury.

Following suit, local government chairmen waiting to receive the governor also left the place without uttering a word to the waiting crowd.

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Vanguard learned that Governor Abubakar stayed away from the event because he was neither contacted by the minister nor his protocol team over the commissioning until Thursday night.

A source at the government house said the situation left the governor frustrated and vowing not to grace the occasion.

The minister, Mamman, who was spotted at the government house later, was said to have personally sped off to Dutse, the state capital, which is about 100 kilometres away, to plead with the governor.

Governor Badaru, it was learned, refused to budge despite pleadings by the minister, which led to the eventual postponement of the event to a later date.

Invited guests, including the media, were shocked when they were asked to leave the venue, as the event would no longer hold.

Vanguard News Nigeria