IN a determined effort to unseat Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar a coalition of six political parties has been formed under the leadership of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara who declared that the end of the road has come for the Governor.
While addressing Journalists at the NUJ Press Center on Sunday, Yakubu Dogara declared that Bauchi State has retrogressed in the last three years under the leadership of the Governor lamenting that as at today, the state has 1.3 million out of school children while the health sector has negatively deteriorated.
The Speaker further lamented that Bauchi state under the leadership of Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar has not witnessed significant development compared with neighbouring states like Gombe, Plateau, Jigawa and others alleging that every money that is coming into the coffers of the state is being diverted for other means.
He said, “I want you (Press) to quote me very well, Bauchi is a failed state under Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, nothing is working positively here alleging that “all the billions of naira brought into the state have been used to build billboards, print posters and sponsored miscreants to insult elders in the media.”
The Speaker further said that rather than use the money for development of the state in the education, health and infrastructure, the Governor is using the money to buy people to his side saying, “if not so, no sane person will align with the present government, no projects to show, no development of whatever sort but mismanagement of resources.”
He, therefore, called on the people of the state to ensure that they voted for positive change during the election particularly by ensuring that Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar was voted out of office for a better administration urging the electorates to ensure that they guard their votes and resist any attempt to rig the election.
The Speaker then assured that in the coming weeks before the election the coalition will come out with the candidate to be voted for saying that, “we will continue with meetings and consultations here in Bauchi and Abuja after which we will come out with a definite position. The future of Bauchi and its people is our collective concern.”
On his own one of the gubernatorial aspirants of the ruling APC, Yakubu Ibrahim Lame described the Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar led administration as a total failure having detailed from the tenets of the ruling APC and chose to be self-centred and unproductive.
Yakubu Lame who lost the gubernatorial ticket in the party primary held last year assured that he is joining the coalition even as a member of the APC but an aggrieved member considering what he described as injustice meted out to all those who aspired for the party ticket in 2018.
Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Shehu Barau Ningi expressed confidence in the coalition saying that it is the only way to change the present situation in the state because according to him the APC led administration has failed the people of the state woefully.
In the same vein, the gubernatorial candidate of the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), Mohammed Jumba described the present administration in the state as a total failure considering the economic mismanagement of resources which he opined has placed the state amongst the most backward in the country.
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Speaking earlier, the Convener of the coalition, Muhammad Bello Kirfi declared that, “key stakeholders in Bauchi state have formed a strong and united coalition to ensure the defeat of APC candidate in Bauchi state, Governor M.A Abubakar in the March 2, 2019 election. This unprecedented move was taken after careful review and consultation on the abysmal performance of the APC government in Bauchi state over the last four years.”
While declaring that the stakeholders comprised influential political as well as community leaders from the geopolitical zones of Bauchi State, the Elder statesman gave the reasons for the coalition to include: “widespread and increasing extreme poverty in Bauchi State during this administration as evidenced by statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS); the lack of any meaningful infrastructure development to fuel economic revival despite significant capital inflows amounting to more than N50 billion from the federal government and other sources as well as pervasive, unaddressed youth unemployment in Bauchi State.”
He added that, “there is poor educational infrastructure and outcomes resulting in the worst record in out of school children in Nigeria, insignificant internally generated revenue relative to federal allocations making Bauchi State the 36 out of 36 states in the Nigerian federation as well as several other concrete failures of MA Abubakar led administration in Bauchi State.”
Muhammad Bello Kirfi who is the Wazirin Bauchi concluded that “given these overwhelming evidence of poor governance and gross incompetence, the stakeholders had expected the APC national leadership to encourage and support the people’s yearning for genuine change through due process and internal democracy.”
“Unfortunately, the APC failed and compounded its mistake by further misguiding Mr President to recently recognize Governor MA Abubakar as the APC candidate. This, despite his emergence through unjust and anti-democratic means. This blunder by the national leadership of APC has heightened the risk of Mr President losing significant numbers of his loyal followers in Bauchi State,” he declared.
Though according to him 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.”
The resolve of the coalition according to the Wazirin Bauchi include, “work hard together to ensure Governor M.A Abubakar is defeated in the state on March 2, 2019; coordinate their efforts in campaign and during elections to foil Governor Abubakar’s alleged current plans to rig the elections using vote buying, instigating violence and using machineries of INEC, the Police and other security agencies; form a united front of their agents at the polling units to mutually support and protect the votes of the coalitions supporters in all the elections; expand the coalition to include other independent-minded parties and stakeholders who are interested in the development of Bauchi State in the gubernatorial elections and continue to refine the coalitions approach, including but not limited to uniting behind a single candidate at the appropriate time before the election.”
So far 21 prominent 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.
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