2019: That toothless coalition in Bauchi

In a determined effort to unseat Bauchi State Governor, Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, a coalition of six political parties has been formed under the leadership of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who declared that the end of the road has come for the people’s governor. While addressing journalists at the […]

In a determined effort to unseat Bauchi State Governor, Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, a coalition of six political parties has been formed under the leadership of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who declared that the end of the road has come for the people’s governor.

While addressing journalists at the NUJ Press Center on last Sunday in Bauchi, Speaker Dogara declared that Bauchi State has retrogressed in the last three years under the leadership of Governor M.A. Abubakar lamenting that as at today, the state has 1.3 million out-of-school children while the health sector has negatively deteriorated.

Apart from the aggrieved APC members, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and other lesser known political parties are part of the coalition to unseat Governor M.A. Abubakar come March 2, 2019 governorship election.

The governorship candidates in the coalition are those of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bala Mohammed; People’s Redemption Party, Prof Ali Pate; Advanced Congress of Democrats, Baheejah Mahmoud; Green Party of Nigeria, Adamu Jumba; and People’s Democratic Movement, Ahmed Iliyasu.

Other stakeholders who signed the statement were aggrieved All Progressives Congress’ governorship aspirants, Dr Yakubu Lame, Senators Abdul Ningi, Nazif Gamawa, and Isa Haman Misau as well as members of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Yerima and Salisu Ningi.

Their grouse is the purported non-performance of Governor Abubakar, whose track records in his near four-year tenure are visible and felt by all and sundry save for the greedy few.

Surprisingly, the convener of the coalition, Muhammad Bello Kirfi declared is an elder statesman, who ought not to be part of these sinister coalition peopled by politicians of his grandchildren age.

Kirfi’s rationale behind the formation of the coalition against the hardworking Governor Abubakar is laughable and baseless.

Though according to Kirfi, who is the Waziri of Bauchi Emirate, several stakeholders have remained in APC out of personal respect for President Muhammadu Buhari’s integrity, “but when hope for any remedial action has been dashed, we have been left with no option but to unite in a grand coalition to defeat the APC gubernatorial candidate in the state.”

However, the process of the last APC governorship primaries in Bauchi state, which was a direct primary, was transparent enough to all concerned – the electoral panel, APC National Working Committee and INEC representatives.

So far 21 feather weight politicians drawn from the six political parties of APC, PRP, PDP, GPN, PDM have signed up for the coalition under the aegis of ‘Political Stakeholders United Against Governor MA Abubakar of Bauchi State’.

Talking about performance and given his giant strides in Bauchi state in his over three years of stewardship, Abubakar is poised for another victory at the poll against his opponents.

Besides his array of support bases within the APC and beyond, his scorecards in different spheres of human endeavor are enough to guarantee him victory at the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

No doubt, Abubakar has revolutionized the education, health, agricultural, tourism, housing, roads and security sectors of the state, among others, within a short time, thereby enhancing the human capital development index of the Bauchi people.

It will suffice here to mention just a few of his giant strides in order to justify the imperative of Governor Abubakar’s return to office come May 29, 2019.

There are 5,000 units of houses being built across the state for sale to the poor by the state government in conjunction with African Nations Development Programme (ANDP). This is a sort of low cost housing scheme to be benefitted by ordinary Bauchi people.

In the agricultural sector, 500 tractors were procured for onward sale to Bauchi farmers at subsidized at 25% discount.

For infrastructural developmental projects, they are visible in Jama’are, Itas-Gadau, Giade, Toro, Dass, Ganjuwa and Bauchi town to mention but a few.

In the area of security, Bauchi state feels the heat of the insurgency in the far North-East and the governor has never rested on his oars in making the state safe and secure for all residents.

Abubakar is able to make Bauchi safe through his participatory governance style. He synergizes with heads of security agencies in the state – military, para-military and police formations.

He inherited and cleared a backlog of salaries and pensions owed by the state on assumption of office. His much criticized civil service biodata capture had uncovered thousands of ghost workers and saved the state much needed revenue.

It is on record that more than 80% of workers in the state workforce have received their salaries up till as at when due, despite dwindling Federal Allocations and overcoming a court order freezing the state’s account. Capital projects are still springing up both in Bauchi town and in the local government areas.

Worried by the decline in the economic and commercial activities and increased dependence on government for employment opportunities in Bauchi State, Governor Abubakar offered N1billion interest-free loan to traders and artisans in the state. How else can a governor perform given scarce resources at his disposal?

Meanwhile, few days ago, 30 registered political parties in Bauchi State expressed their support for the re-election of Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar in the forthcoming governorship election, hence the coalition is null, void and dead on arrival.

 

Gbadebo wrote this piece from Abuja