Bauchi APC implores citizens to join hands, protect state assets

Bauchi State Chapter of the opposition party in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC) has implored people of the state to join hands with the party to protect the assets of the state and demand accountability from the government led by the PDP declaring that it has been vindicated over its opposition to the PDP led administration in Bauchi state

This was contained in a press release by the APC’s Media and Publicity Committee stating that “Unless we stop Gov Bala, he may betray his trust again. “A believer does not allow himself to be bitten twice from one hole.” (Hadith) May Allah protect us and bless our dear State”.

The release which was jointly signed by Comrade Sabo Muhammad and Malam Saadu Umar, Committee Chairman and Secretary/Member of the Committee was reacting to the recent publication by ICPC on the seizure of property in Abuja, Zinariya International said to be linked to the Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir.

In the release titled: ‘Zinariya International: The Governor Betrayed His Trust’, The APC stated that it was appalled by the scandalous reports of the seizure of a property, Plot 298, Wuye District, Abuja, linked to Governor Bala Muhammad (GB) by the ICPC as released by the spokesperson of the ICPC.

The APC stated that based on the release by ICPC, Governor Bala Mohammed unlawfully allocated the property belonging to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to himself and his family while serving as the Minister of the FCT, Abuja.

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It stated that “This appalling scandal would warrant a resignation or impeachment in saner climes! Thus, we hereby urge Mr Governor to take the path of honour. We are equally aware of the allegations of breach of public trust and sundry corruption charges levelled against GB by the EFCC. These allegations and his conduct in the office so far – like the N3.6 billion Adda Nigeria Ltd Car (GB is alleged to be a Director in the Company) contract scandal – have continued to erode the confidence of the people of Bauchi State in the ability of Gov Bala to discharge his functions without mixing it with his personal interests”.

The APC added that “Since Gov Bala has allowed his personal interests and the interests of his family to influence his official conduct as the Minister of the FCT by unlawfully allocating land belonging to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to himself and his family, we are worried and have reasons to believe that Gov Bala may continue to be influenced by his personal interests and that of his family and friends in the discharge of his functions as the Governor of Bauchi State “.

The party, therefore, “urge the members of the Bauchi State House of Assembly to be more proactive in their oversight duty and to hold the Governor to account. Honourable Members need to immediately start a thorough investigation of all the contracts signed by Gov Bala on behalf of Bauchi State so as to be sure and tell the public to whose interests each and every one of those contracts was signed for – were the contracts for the public or for the interests of Gov Bala and his family and friends?”

“We also urge the Honourable Members to stop the planned privatization of the assets of the State by the Governor lest he transfers our collective assets to himself and his family and friends like the way he unlawfully transferred the land of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to himself and his family”, the APC further stated.

The party added that “We would also like to reiterate our call on the Honourable Members to stop Gov Bala from borrowing the sum of about N100 Billion (200 million US Dollars) from Kuwait. This is because the people of Bauchi do not trust Gov Bala given what we now know with regard to his self serving conduct while serving as the Minister of the FCT. We are concerned that Gov Bala may end up squandering the foreign loan on himself and his family and friends just the way he turned public property to his own in the FCT”.

As of the time of filing this report, the state government expressed its readiness to react to the allegations appropriately as soon as it concluded studying the release.