The gubernatorial ambition of Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir got a boost last weekend as the Bauchi State Chapter of Allied Peoples Movement (APM) endorsed his gubernatorial candidacy for the upcoming March 9 gubernatorial and state assembly elections as its sole candidate.
The endorsement was announced by the party’s House of Representatives candidate for Kirfi/ Alkaleri federal constituency of in the just held NASS election, Alhaji Mohammed Idris Jibrin made in an interaction with Journalists stating that he was personally supporting the PDP Guber candidate, because he is his brother and someone he knows very well who can deliver than what is going on in Bauchi now.
He also said that the power of incumbency will not stop Senator Bala Mohammed from defeating Governor Mohammed Abubakar because according to him things are not going on well in Bauchi state under the APC led administration.
The politician said when Bala Mohammed was the FCT Minister he executed numerous developmental projects such as water, roads, electricity, health care and many other social amenities in almost every nook and corner of the nation’s capital city.
According to him, the present administration under Governor Mohammed Abubakar has not conducted local government election in more than three and half years which he said has affected the people at the grassroots negatively adding however that even the Caretakers he has been appointing are not politicians saying, “in politics you have to put politicians as Caretakers not contractors”.
“I can assure you, in Alkaleri Local Government, the chairman has awarded the contract of six million which the chairman is in charge of drilling a borehole, the state APC organising secretary is in charge of Primary renovation and the deputy chairman is in charge of taking road to his village, so you can see that wrong arrangement”. He lamented.
Idris Jibrin who contested under the APM said that his party will give the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), Senator Bala Mohammed thousands of votes to enable him to win the governorship election.
Alhaji Jibrin had prior to last Saturday election embarked on a house to house campaign, calling on voters not to be induced by money, wrappers, souvenirs and other gratification in place of their votes saying, “We are going from house to house to enlighten the voters and to tell them to reject money Politics, it’s against the democratic tenets, if they insist collect the money and vote for a candidate of your choice”,
Idris Jibrin who lost out in the National Assembly elections urged voters in the state to understand the antics of some Politicians who are bent on using money to corrupt the system with a target to win election by hook or crook and urged the electorates in Bauchi and Alkaleri and Kirfi Local government areas in particular to cast their votes for the PDP from governorship to state assemblies in the Saturday 09, March elections.
He said that the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) conducted free, fair and credible elections but the exercise was later hijacked by some selfish politicians in his constituency which made him lost in the contest and alleged that the collation centre for Alkaleri /Kirfi federal constituency was in Alkaleri but up to the time of granting this interview no official announcement has been made by the Returning officer.
”I would have won the election if not because some people later came and hijacked the whole process. We overheard it on air that somebody has won but we don’t know with how many votes, nobody knows. We are yet to know how many votes were cast in Alkaleri and Kirfi and we want to know who is the collation officer and where is the collation centre. None yet. But the election went on free and fair “, he explained.
Idris Jibrin who said there was no election in Kirfi and Alkaleri Local Government areas added that the opposition did not allow the Returning Officer to announce the results at the designated centre and said that though, the Voters turn out was impressive, because the electorates from the villages were fully mobilized but none of the results was announced like other states to tell the people the number of votes cast from each local government per political party.
The Reps candidate who threatened court action if the election anomalies are not addressed appealed to his supporters to remain law-abiding and vote for the PDP gubernatorial flagbearer in the coming governorship and State Assembly elections.
He then expressed optimism that the APM candidate to represent Kirfi local government in the state Assembly will win the election going by his track record as a young and hardworking person.
and then