Salisu Zigau is an indigene of Bauchi State and an Abuja based lawyer. In this interview with AHURAKA YUSUF ISAH, he speaks on the growing support for the state governor, Mohammed Abubakar, ahead of the forthcoming election.
Judging by the state of affairs in the last three and half years in Bauchi State, do you think Governor Mohammed Abubakar deserves re-election?
First and foremost, let us bend backward and take a cursory look at Bauchi state as at the time Governor Abubakar came on board on May 29, 2015. It was a chaotic situation, the civil servants were on strike; just as no one ever went to sleep then with his or her two eyes closed for fear of Boko Haram insurgency. Bauchi state was prostrate, face down economically, the social life was unwelcoming.
The governor took over when the civil servants were owed four months salaries, besides the humongous salary debt of about N125 billion and gratuity of N15 billion debt overhanging. While the monthly allocations to the state was in the neighborhood of N5 billion, the 105, 000 civil servants take a chunk of over N4 billion. Bauchi is a civil servant state, so to say, and any attempt to derail in the salary payments in the state touches the fundamentals of the state itself. This is because, for every civil servant, area there are six to seven other persons directly connected.
As at today, no civil servant is being owed in the state, just as the social life has since picked up. The tourist potential of the state has assumed attractive dimension due to relative peace in the state.
You would recall that Bauchi is the first place in Nigeria where Boko Haram launched its first attack in 2009. That was when the insurgent launched an attack on a police station in Bauchi State. More than 50 people were killed and several dozen were injured when a gun-battle erupted as a police station was attacked by 70 Nigerian Boko Haram sect members who possessed grenades and guns.
A year later the insurgents attacked the central prison in Bauchi town and freed over 721 inmates including their over 100 sect members in that prison custody. There were several attacks launched in the churches, mosques, market and other places up till the time this government came in in 2015. There was even time when it was heard that the insurgents were relocating from Sambisa forest to Burra Forest in Ningi Emirate Council; which is linked to Kano and Kaduna.
By whatever means he has achieved is less immaterial compared to the relative peace being enjoyed in Bauchi state today. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai was even quoted as saying recently that Bauchi is peaceful amidst attacks by insurgents in other states in the Northeast. Although, he was economical to truth by attributing it to the cooperation of residents and the collaboration of security agencies working in the state without mentioning the state government. But the facts on ground speaks volume and it is seen by all and sundry in Bauchi state.
You remember that when the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bauchi state chapter paid Christmas visit to Governor Abubakar recently, it endorsed him for re-election because of priority he gives to security issues in the state. CAN acknowledged that Bauchi state remains the safest among the North eastern states and one of the safest in the entire country. They said the situation is so calm to the extent that people have even forgotten that there had been massacres and killings during worships. And lastly they added that one glaring evident that Bauchi state is peaceful is that it is becoming one of the most populous states in the North East because it is the safest and one of the safest in the country.
According to Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution ‘’the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government’’. On this note, the Governor Abubakar deserves re-election.
But his opponents have argued that he is yet to embark on road infrastructure development in the state, saying the state of affairs are still where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government left it in 2015…
You see, you are trying to draw me out to wrestle with the PDP and at the end of the day we shall both become dirty. But I won’t hesitate to draw attention of whoever cares that as at 2009 when the Boko Haram insurgency was borne, the PDP was in control nationwide. The insurgency was a product of misrule and prevalent corruption in the country. The insurgents, by omission or commission felt that if it is the western education acquired by Nigerians, whether Muslim or Christians that turn them so corrupt and wicked then the acquisition of the western education is a ‘’sin’’. So, the PDP government gave birth to Boko Haram, which is the monster the APC government in Bauchi and at the Federal level is trying to destroy.
Coming to details briefly, this government should be appreciated for embarking on construction of 27 roads projects across the state within the two years of its inception despite the paucity of funds and backlog of unpaid salaries.
The dualisation of township roads, renovation of dilapidated ones as well as construction of new ones in Katagum, Misau and Gamawa local government areas carried out so far by this government are physical and there to been seen.
There are also 19 primary health care centres which this government has also built in some parts of the state within two years of coming on board.
This government has been highly prudent and doing away with all those nuances, leakages and wastes, in order to deliver on good governance in practical terms, which has been the source criticisms by some people. In the past, the governors went on employing aides in the name of empowerment to the extent that ‘’roadside mechanics, motorists and other forms of artisans’’ were appointed aides and placed on N30,000 monthly salaries. Such forms of empowerment are being done differently without going the same charades.
In other words, you don’t believe this government deserve to be replaced …
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Nigerian football lovers can’t forget easily the erstwhile Super Eagle coach, Clemens Westerhof who is responsible for what could be described as a “golden” period in Nigerian football. At a time when Daniel Amokachi and Emmanuel Amuneke were suffering from injuries and insisted on featuring, the Dutchman coach justified his action, arguing that half Amokachi and half Amuneke on the pitch would give far better result than that of the four able-bodied members of the team put together. Westerhof said the duo constituted a winning team, it amounted to tactical error to change a winning team.
Abubakar-led government in Bauchi state is a winning team, and the erstwhile PDP government was a failure. Why would sane persons replace winning team with failing team? That will be atavistic, unthinkable and improbable. Bauchi people won’t descend to such primitivism.
Governor Abubakar’s opponents have insinuated that he rode at the back of President Buhari to power in 2015, adding that the then condition is no longer prevailing. What is your take on this insinuatiom?
Birds of a feather, they say flock together. It means like-minded people associate; or similarities between people will attract them to each other the same way a flock of birds huddle together. President Buhari and Governor Abubakar share a lot in common, such as Spartan discipline, downright dislike for corruption and heartfelt sympathy for grassroots’ people or people who are below the ladder.
This is why they both belong to the All Peoples Congress (APC) and not in the PDP. Like the marriage vow, for better or worse they are there together in APC. The fortune of one affects the other, and so far President Buhari have been happy with Governor Abubakar’s performance, just like many Bauchi state citizens. The only exceptions are those who are denied of proceeds of corruption. They are used to distribution or sharing of the monthly allocations and that’s no longer forthcoming.
One would not deny President Buhari’s cult-like followings in Bauchi state. In 2015, on percentage basis, President Buhari recorded the highest vote in Bauchi state. Kano only came first in terms of volume. The faith on President Buhari has not deemed, neither has Bauchi people have cause to regret voting Governor Abubakar.
By paying workers’ salary up-to-date, embarking on bulwark of road rehabilitation and construction, building health care facilities, rehabilitating and reconstruction of schools, initiating and supporting scholarship schemes among other development programmes to his achievements, Governor Abubakar would be voted on his personal merit. Bauchi state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria endorsed him during the last Christmas period because of his effort on protection of lives and citizens’ property. Both President Buhari and Governor Abubakar would be voted en-mass in this year election.
But people are saying that Governor Abubakar has an uphill task in this year’s election with the emergence of Senator Bala Mohammed as the PDP governorship candidate in Bauchi state.
Well, I don’t know the basis for comparism between the two candidates. Just attempt to weigh the two base on their antecedents on the scales of ‘’principle’’, ‘’integrity test’’, ‘’territorial or constituency loyalty’’, they would be several poles apart.
Perhaps, a little narrative shall make the above issues succinctly clear. Bala Mohammed was elected Senator for Bauchi South under the All Nigeria People’s Party (APP) with the support of ex-Governor Isa Yuguda. He and Yuguda went apart when the latter married ex-President Umaru Yar’Adua’s daughter.
During the stalemate following late President Yar’Adua medical vacation, Senator Mohammed was the first serving senator who moved a motion to declare him incapacitated and making the thenVice-President Goodluck Jonathan the acting President. Consequently, the then Acting President Jonathan compensated him by appointing him Minister of FCT in 2010, when Jonathan announced his new cabinet. In other words, he can do anything to achieve his aim.
Senator Mohammed is answering several questions with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) extensively in connection with questionable schemes and projects undertaken by him when he held sway as FCT Minister between 2010 and 2015. He has several pending corruption cases in courts in Abuja; including the controversial N1 trillion “Land Swap Programme” under which his administration traded large parcels of public land with some ‘selected’ private individuals and companies to develop housing projects in the FCT. This is allegedly causing FCT over N1 trillion loss.
You will also recall that just in September 2018, Senator Bala Mohammed, Daar Communications Chairman, Dr Raymond Dokpesi and Ambassador Bello Mohammed dragged President Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation, before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, challenging the constitutionality of Executive Order No 6 of 2018. The trio asked the court to declare that the Presidential Order 6 issued by the President, which stigmatizes them (plaintiffs) as corrupt and label their assets as proceeds of corruption liable for forfeiture is unlawful, null and void and of no effect whatsoever. Tell me, is it the person who is involved in all this that should be entrusted with the paltry resources of Bauchi state.
Governor Abubakar is a lawyer by training. He was a civil servant for long just as in some intervals he went into legal practice. He was Bauchi State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. He was appointed Resident Electoral Commissioner of the INEC and later promoted to National Electoral Commissioner in charge of Legal Services. As a legal practitioner, he was the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Bauchi State Branch and also appointed a member of the National Judicial Council (NJC) at one time. With this requisite skills, knowledge and experience, he has been putting the state on good pedestal, infrastructure development and good governance.
But some people still argue that Governor Abubakar has not been living up to his professional calling, that he neither obeys the rule of law nor abides by democratic norms…
Look, when Justice Ibrahim Zango retired as Chief Judge of Bauchi state in 2014, the state could not appoint new chief judge until Abubakar became a governor. He set machinery in place and by July 2016, he recommended Justice Rabi Umar to NJC and swore her as the first female chief judge of Bauchi state after the NJC approved her nomination. Although, this appointment was trailed by petitions and protests, but NJC would have descended on the appointment if it failed to follow the laid down rules.
