Dogara, Abubakar and the Bauchi battleground
In what may be an attempt to divert public attention from the budget-padding scandal in the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has started what some people regard as a misplaced war against Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State. According to media reports, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, […]
In what may be an attempt to divert public attention from the budget-padding scandal in the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has started what some people regard as a misplaced war against Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State. According to media reports, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, recently led some lawmakers from Bauchi State to the Presidential Villa where they informed President Muhammadu Buhari that Gov. Mohammed Abubakar allegedly misappropriated the bailout funds granted for the payment of the arrears of salaries of workers in the state. This was the main focus of the essay, “Between Dogara, Gov. Abubakar and Bauchi People” (Daily Trust, Wednesday, September 7, 2016, p42).
Interestingly, there has never been any protest from workers in Bauchi State indicating that Gov. Abubakar short-changed them by not paying them their arrears of salaries and allowances from the bailout funds. There are also no petitions from the various workers’ unions in Bauchi State to the House of Assembly accusing the governor of not paying them their arrears of salaries. As a matter of fact, there is concrete evidence that an investigation carried out by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the matter showed that almost the entire bailout funds extended to Bauchi State were prudently deployed for the actual purposes for which they were obtained. The question is; from where did Dogara and his team manufacture the allegation that Gov. Abubakar misappropriated the bailout funds meant for workers in Bauchi State?
Let us even assume without conceding that Gov. Abubakar actually misappropriated the bailout funds earmarked for the payment of the arrears of salaries for workers in Bauchi State. The question again remains: What is the proper procedure for getting justice for the workers of Bauchi State over the bailout matter? Is it by reporting the governor of Bauchi State to the President of Nigeria or by sending a formal petition against the governor to the Bauchi State House of Assembly that the workers will get justice? Has the President of Nigeria or the national leadership of the party any powers to sanction or punish an erring State governor over the misappropriation of public funds? From every indication, it would appear that Dogara wanted to use the pretext of reporting Abubakar to the President and the APC national leadership over the matter of bailout funds to actually mobilize presidential goodwill and federal forces on his side in the political battle he is enmeshed in with Abubakar in Bauchi State.
Ever since Abubakar outplayed and out-maneuvered all the political tendencies in the APC of Bauchi State to emerge its candidate in the 2015 governorship election, it appears it is only the Dogara group that has refused all entreaties for genuine reconciliation. This is in spite of the fact that Gov. Abubakar has bent over backwards and appointed elements from all the political tendencies of the APC in the state, including the
Dogara group, as commissioners and senior special assistants in the government of the State. The only reason the Dogara group appears not interested in any peaceful resolution of the lingering political battle in Bauchi State may be the desire to dictate the course of events in Bauchi State at the same time he is presiding over the affairs of the House of Representatives as its speaker. No governor who knows his onions will allow what Dogara is allegedly scheming to prevail in his domain.
It is unfortunate that in an attempt to realize his own political goals in his state of Bauchi, Mr Dogara elected to project the falsehood that Abubakar allegedly misappropriated the bailout funds for workers in the State. Dogara’s objective seems to be that of getting President Buhari, through vile and deceitful propaganda, to support his personal political
battle with Gov. Abubakar. But why should Dogara disguise a personal political battle with Gov. Abubakar as a public-interest struggle to get Bauchi State workers reap the benefits from the bailout funds extended to state governments by President Muhammadu Buhari? Does Dogara think that Nigerians are dunderheads? Dogara should be man enough to face his tribulations in the House of Representatives over the budget-padding scandal now that the federal lawmakers have resumed from their vacation and leave Gov. Abubakar alone.
As Governor Abubakar pointed out after his meeting with President Buhari, his problem with Dogara heightened after he supported the position of the Presidency that the leadership of the National Assembly must be as suggested by the national leadership of the APC. If so, why mask this vendetta-induced scheme against Abubakar with spurious allegations about misapplication of bailout funds? Dogara’s posturing here is definitely not that of a decent and humble politician out to serve the people, but that of a vendetta-seeking politician out to give Abubakar a bad name in order to hang him for not doing his private political bidding.
Dr. Nwanuforo wrote this piece from Abuja