Ahead of electioneering campaigns for the 2023 General elections, Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir on Wednesday inaugurated the Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) arguing that the PDP remains the strongest and most popular political party which has the capacity of winning elective positions across the country.
The Campaign Council is to serve for the purposes of all the elective offices from the presidential, governorship, national and state assembly with assurance to provide a level playing ground for the peaceful conduct of the forthcoming General Elections in the State.
While speaking at the inauguration held at the Government House, Bala Mohammed said that “This Campaign Council is a replica of what was set up at the National level in Abuja, in which the composition of the campaign will have a single structure, there is no any difference. We are most interested in the polling units and the electoral wards”.
The Governor stressed that “You should all go back to the grassroots where our people are, so because of that, this Campaign Council is Constituency-based. No matter your position in the party because even the Presidential Candidate has said that he will go back to his Constituency to monitor there”.
According to him, “This is because elections are won at the polling units, not at the Government House and that is why we have this structure”.
“We will not stay at the Government House and in our offices and allow our opponents humiliate us, we have to defend ourselves. In PDP, everybody is our own and we will not allow or take acts of anti-party”.
He further said that “There are people going around telling people to vote for Kaura (Bala Mohammed) but they shouldn’t vote for Atiku (Abubakar) or they should vote for Atiku and not for Kaura, that’s not so”.
According to him, “There are bad eggs who go about deceiving people using names, these are all lies. What we want is to win elections from the top to the bottom and from the bottom to the top”.
“I feel happy with this event and I am happy seeing the faces of people that are here. The party Chairman, the Commander of this battle, has done everything; he is not the Commander only in Bauchi state alone but in the North”, he added.
The Governor also said that “You saw the programme he planned in two days (where decampees were received into the PDP), I didn’t do it, but he did it, up to this moment, people are still praising us in the PDP, where we received our elder brother and father (Atiku Abubakar). We did that to set the pace, to make him feel at home and to show him that he has dignity. And it is a lie, PDP is not dead, PDP is still alive”.
Bala Mohammed stressed that “I know you and you know me and we are just starting. We are not afraid of the battle, whatever we will do to preserve our dignity, we will do”.
“If anybody feels he has the federal government to support him, we have God and we have people at the grassroots and everybody has seen. Honestly, we are not afraid, we will not sleep and be careless, and money is nothing. We were first voted even without the money, but we are hopeful that God will give us the opportunity because people love us”.
“We will not allow them to be blinded, we will not allow anyone plays hide and seeks to them. Today, on your behalf, we have redeemed 80 – 90 per cent of our campaign promises, we even exceeded some of them. We have constructed roads, we have renovated hospitals, schools, and houses of our traditional rulers, we pay salaries as and when due, we pay pension and gratuity. And all we have done are without discrimination because everyone belongs to us”, the Governor stressed.
“We are indigenes and the people belong to us and we are grateful that we keep increasing in number. We have to join hands and be patient with each other so that we can win one million votes in each of the coming elections in the state”.
He however alleged that “Some people want to use money from banks and federal government money to do empowerment, we are prepared and ready for them. We also empowered the people and we are still doing it. You are the ones doing it, you didn’t reduce anything and reserve them for ‘mama’ or for ‘baba’, you gave out everything”.
The Governor assured that “Nobody will brag with things belonging to the government, it is we that know what empowerment is and we will continue with the empowerment. They see empowerment from us”.
“This campaign has been divided into three, we’ll have the campaign for the Constituencies, Wards and local governments together. The unfortunate thing in this is that we don’t have a single Senator in PDP in Bauchi state but by God’s grace, this time around, all our senatorial candidates and the House of Representatives will win”.
“We will go to all the nooks and crannies of the state, we will no longer stay in one place, we will go round to meet and talk with people and listen to them. Politics is wisdom, we will do our best”.
“We will start this campaign next week Wednesday, our Secretariat is ready, our Directors are ready, we are already very ready to start, and we will go all out. Anybody who feels he can face us should come out, we are prepared and ready to face them. We will start with prayers. Within this week, all of you will pray in his/her constituency”, he declared.
Bala Mohammed expressed optimism that “God will give us success, it is on God that we depend and rely on and we are grateful that he is increasing our number. Please, be patient with one another, especially those coming into the party. Whoever you are, we will come and knock on your doors and homes to seek your favour, not because of ourselves but so we can continue with what we are doing across the state”.
According to him, “I am also happy that I was given the Deputy Director General of the Campaign Council in the whole country which makes me the second in command after the Chairman. I am doing my best, but I won’t leave you here without any leadership even though I know I have capable hands, but I’ll join the two together”.
While assuring of his commitment to consolidate the achievements recorded by his administration, the Governor also solicited the support of all the electorates for his reelection as well as the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar and all other candidates.
Speaking on behalf of the Campaign Council members, the Director General, Faruq Mustapha who was a former APC Gubernatorial Aspirant assured that the Council will mobilize the required voters towards the success of all PDP candidates in the state.
Farouk Mustapha further assured that no stone will be left unturned in ensuring that the opposition will not get any headway in the elections.
The over 600-member committee has 31 various sub-committees.
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