Tales of winners, losers of Bauchi 2019 election

ISHOLA MICHAEL writes on the after effect of the Bauchi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for both the winners and losers.

THOUGH the 2019 general elections have come and gone with winners and losers emerging, while the winners are celebrating their victory at the polls, the losers are licking the wound inflicted in them and planning the way out next time.

In Bauchi, a milestone in political history was attained during the elections, considering that for the first time, an incumbent governor who sought reelection was defeated by the opposition, as the people rose against the incumbent for what was described as inability of the administration to deliver. Therefore, the losers in Bauchi are the the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its main candidate, former Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, while the winners are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir.

Though the APC headed to the election petitions tribunal to contest the outcome of the election, it failed, as the tribunal dismissed the petition and upheld the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), confirming the election of Mohammed as duly-elected Bauchi State governor.

In his reaction to the tribunal outcome, Mohammed described his as victory one for democracy and the people of the state, regardless of their political affiliation as well as a dousing of the uneasy calm that has gripped the state since the commencement of the case.

According t him, after every effort by the opponent fails, he would establish a framework for the urgent task of restoring hope to what he described as demoralised, disenchanted and dispirited people of the state.

Mohammed also said that the confirmation was so loud and clear that it rang from Azare, Alkaleri to Ningi and the nooks and cranny of the state.

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He added that for his administration, the victory was, without doubt, a deeply sobering moment by revalidating the sacred mandate entrusted on him by the people of the state.

The governor further said that the development summoned the administration to remove the cloak of partisanship that breeds injustice and fuels hatred to unfasten the parochial prism that beclouds the sense of oneness and deepens the stagnation of the environment.

The Governor noted that the victory will only make sense when every Bauchi child of school age is in the classroom or when every school leaver is productively engaged in addition to ensuring that every pregnant woman has the reasonable assurance that she will not die for childbirth.

He therefore dedicated his victory to the entire people of the state, and insisted that noting will distract him from his sustained pursuit of the 7-point agenda until he attain the ultimate goal of achieving the greatest good for the greatest number of all those who reside in the state.

Bala Mohammed also used the medium to appeal to all stakeholders especially him opponents at the Tribunal to sheath their swords by supporting his administration for the development of the state.

Barely 24 hours after he lost at the Election Petition Tribunal, immediate former Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar declared his intention to appeal against the judgement.

Speaking through his Media Aide, Ali Mohammed Ali, the Governor declared that, “We are appealing judgment ….our lawyers have been instructed to file an appeal after studying judgement”.

He expressed optimism that the APC and himself will get judgement at the Appeal Court and reclaim the mandate given to them by the good people of the state.

Mohammed Abubakar however called on his teeming supporters across the state as well as other members of the APC to remain calm, law abiding citizens and should not do anything that will lead to the breach of peace in the state.

“We are peaceful and peace loving people in the APC, we believe in the rule of law and so we are going to tread the path of legal to reclaim the mandate massively given to us by the generality of the people of Bauchi state”, the former Governor stated.

In his reaction to the decision, the PDP Publicity Secretary, Yayanuwa Zainabari described the intent to appeal as an effort that will end in futility and waste of time saying that the APC’s non-acceptance of the tribunal ruling was a clear testimony that the party is against destiny or the will of God, the creator.

Yayanuwa Zainabari said that, “Any patriotic citizen of Bauchi state will go against the APC resolve to appeal against the Bauchi election petition tribunal judgment that Senator Bala Mohammed is the duly elected governor of the state going by the March 9, 2019 gubernatorial election having scored the highest votes in the contest”.

The PDP spokesman added that, “Ever since the commencement of the legal battle with the APC at the tribunal, the PDP has every confidence of coming out victorious at the end of the case, and the party was vindicated when the tribunal upheld the election of Senator Bala Mohammed as the duly elected governor of the state, hence our commendations to the electorate for voting PDP to salvage them from the shackles of ignorance, diseases and poverty”.

“The people of Bauchi state will not forgive the immediate past governor, Mohammed Abubakar, taking into cognizance the tremendous achievements the PDP led administration has recorded during its first 100 days in office, during which period positive changes have been witnessed by the generality of the people of the state, irrespective of the legal impasse that to a certain extent retarded the wheels of progress”, Zainabari contented.

He advised any patriotic citizen of Bauchi state to rally round the PDP administration of Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed in the collective resolve to take the state to higher pedestals, saying that God gives power to whom He likes, and vise versa, and called on former governor Abubakar to concede defeat as his decision to appeal against the tribunal judgment will end in waterloo.

Yayanuwa Zainabari said that, “God does not sleep, APC took us to a High Court in Abuja and we won there, it also took us to the election petition tribunal where we also won with high degree of victory”.

According to him, in God’s judgment, there will be no appeal, hence both the appellate court and Supreme Court will merely uphold the verdict of the tribunal, stressing that after former governor Abubakar’s perceive botched victory at the court, PDP as a Government in Bauchi will retrieve all that Abubakar siphoned or carted away from the good people of Bauchi state, as the hardships he subjected the people will not go unpunished.

Yayanuwa Zainabari then assured the people of Bauchi that Governor Bala Mohammed is poised to take the state to the NEXT level in terms of provision of basic necessities of life, and charting a new course unprecedented in the democratic dispensation of this country.

He concluded that, “The governor will henceforth be committed to meeting the needs and aspirations of the generality of the people of Bauchi state, rather than subjecting himself to the vituperations of the opposition  APC.”