Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed has challenged the anti-graft agencies to prove him guilty of any financial misappropriation for the period he served Nigerians as Senator or Minister.
Bala threw this challenge to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the Independent Corrupt and Practices Commission (ICPC).
The governor said this at the Wadata House, where he addressed members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party on his suitability to run the election for 2023 on the platform of the PDP to attend to the national question of inclusion, economy and security.
Bala told the national working committee of the PDP that: ”I am offering myself to run for this office, out of the need to serve because I have served in various level as a media man as a civil servant as a senator, a legislator now as a governor.
“I believe I am one of the best. But I am not found to be one the best. I am ready to work with anybody that you bring out. That should be understood. I will not call anybody names, I will not underestimate or undermine anybody.
“I will not demean and diminish anybody. Every Nigerian is important. The agenda issues are germane. The youth issues are germane. We cannot ignore the aspirations of the young Nigerians who may be better positioned to turn around this country.
“At the same time, we cannot discard our old ones. We need experience. We must have a mid-cost approach to everything. The country needs rescue. Everything has failed in all ramifications.
“To do it we must strategize. We have a strategist in you. An accomplished technocrat. An academician who has done it before you form this party. God has a way of coming back to the people who pray. We prayed and we came back. I’m not flattering.
“I am not going to be a northern president or a Muslim-Fulani president or a minority president. I am going to be a Nigerian president who understands the nuances, the norms and the feelings of Nigerians because I have touched them.
“I have worked with them. I have understood them and after understanding them I know what Nigerians want. What they need is nothing but good governance, justice and equity and the management of scarce resources, not borrowing money.
“I know the country very well. And of course, I will not put you to shame. I will not put the country to shame. There is nothing that has been not not been said about me.
“When I took over when we lost the election, I have passed through a lot of aspects of investigation. I consider these aspects as part of accountability. I don’t have any malice against anybody who investigated me.
“I dare anybody to find me guilty because I know my conscience. And that’s why I’m still standing here.
“I dare every investigating agency I did my best but I am a human. I am not infallible. Certainly, this country needs a new orientation, a new vision, not to talk about sectional issues, but to address the sectional feelings.
“The spirit of self actualization, self expression, people who want to be at the center. restructure the country in a manner that every component or every federated entity will feel a sense of belonging, Bala told the NWC.
National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu said Senator Mohammed like any other of the 16 aspirants was qualified to run the party.
He said the party would afford all aspirants level playing field to pick a leader who would connect with Nigerians and bring solution to the adverse poverty, unemployment hunger and insecurity as the PDP as a party would ensure that her candidate rescued Nigerians from her current woes.
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