By:Ishola Michael, Bauchi
Immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Barr Yakubu Dogara has expressed confidence that the people of the state will vote out the incumbent Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir having failed them in the last 4 years.
Yakubu Dogara made this known on Saturday in an interview with Journalists at his hometown of Gwarangah, Bogoro Local Government Area of the state shortly after casting his vote at his Gwarangah Primary School Polling Unit 007.
On his expectations of the outcome of the election, the former Speaker said that he expected the people.of Bauchi State to vote out the incumbent Governor.
According to him, “Well, let me say my expectation is that as we have always done in Bauchi nobody teaches us how to librate ourselves from the grip .of bad government and this (the ruling People’s Democratic Party in.the State) is one of them,”.
Yakubu Dogara added that, “l expect the people of Bauchii to come out enmass to say that they have rejected Governor Bala Mohammed.”
He however alleged that the Governorship and State Assembly Elections in Bauchi State were being marred by vote-buying.
“Massive vote buying is going on across polling units in the state and we have briefed the security operatives about the development,” he alleged.
He stressed that, “From the information we have received there is massive vote buying in Alkaleri and in Darazo. The same thing is happening in some local government in Bauchi North.”
He said that, “I hope the EFCC and security agents will be able to deal with it so we can have a free and fair election”
He further said that, “We want to set a precedent that once we elect a governor and he is not delivering, we have maximum of four years until we find someone who delivers, someone whose priority is the workers, someone whose priority is the economy of the state and someone whose priority is the transformation of the state. I don’t see Bauchi people endorsing failure”
Yakubu Dogara said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Air Marshal Saddique Abubakar who he is supporting will only accept the outcome of the Governorship Election in the state if it is free and fair.
“We know how elections are conducted,
Once the election is free and credible we shouldn’t have any problem. Everybody should accept because the people ultimately determines who wins.” Yakubu Dogara said.
He added that, “We will assess the situation. If the viet buying is too bad or intimidation is bad as we have seen in one polling unit in Tafawa Balewa where somebody imported thugs and they even deflated the tires of INEC vehicle. The guy who imported the thug belongs to a support group of the Governor.”
According to him, “So.it will be foolishness to accept the outcome of the election if it is married. That would not translate to the will of the people and it will not give the government the legitimacy to rule.”
“We want a situation where Bauchi people will be the ones to decide who will govern them,” he stressed.
The former Speaker concluded that, “If the malpractice overwhelmed what we call decency in terms of electoral process, l would advised my candidate to stand up and challenge it and fight for Bauchi people until the mandate if stolen, is restored.”
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