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Tag: bala mohammed

  • AK-47 Controversy: Peace at last as Ortom, Bala Mohammed reconcile, embrace [Photo]

    AK-47 Controversy: Peace at last as Ortom, Bala Mohammed reconcile, embrace [Photo]

    Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed and his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom have settled their differences over comments made on AK-47 amid the security situation in the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that Mohammed had on February 12 said Fulani herders have no option but to carry AK-47 for self-defence because they are being attacked and killed by cattle rustlers.

    He also condemned South West, South-East Governors, and also Governor Ortom over the manner in which they are handling farmer-herder clashes.

    Governor Ortom had on February 22 responded to his Bauchi counterpart of being a terrorist based on his utterances supporting herdsmen from carrying AK-47 to defend themselves.

    Ortom also accused Mohammed of being a part of those threatening his life stressing that the Bauchi governor should be held responsible if anything happens to him.

    Following the altercation between the two governors, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under whose platform they were elected into office, waded into their conflict.

    Also, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and his Adamawa counterpart, Ahmadu Fintiri, initiated reconciliation efforts.

    The efforts seemed to have paid off on Tuesday with governors Ortom and Mohammed embracing each other in Rivers State.

    After a closed-door meeting at Wike’s private residence in Port Harcourt, the governors insisted that their arguments over a comment made by the Bauchi governor on the bearing of arms by herders were for the good of the country, not to cause an ethnic crisis.

  • No apology for kicking against profiling of Fulanis as killers, kidnappers – Bauchi Gov

    No apology for kicking against profiling of Fulanis as killers, kidnappers – Bauchi Gov

    Bauchi State Govenor, Bala Mohammed has said he has no apology for kicking against the labelling of Fulanis as kidnapers and killers.

    The governor, who stated this Wednesday, during the launch of the 2020/2021 Annual Livestock Vaccination Campaign, said there is no ethnic group that is free of criminals.

    He said it is unfair to label a particular ethnic group as criminals as such action can breed disunity.

    Mohammed said over the years, Fulani herders have made sacrifices in their pastoral venture, providing the needed protein through supply of beef.

    “We kicked against the profiling of the Fulanis as killers and kidnappers. We have no apology for what we have said because what we have done is to say the truth, that there is no tribe or ethnic group that is free from criminality.

    “We are not saying that to spite anybody or spark unnecessary controversy. We have made our point and Nigerians across the board have discussed it and I am happy to say that from all indications, majority of sensible Nigerians have appreciated what we have said and that is the point.”

    He also charged herdsmen to expose the “criminals among them” and to live within the law.

    “I will therefore not mention anything on this matter again for fear that it could be escalated. I will listen to voices of reasoning and keep quiet. I am calling on our brothers, the Fulanis, to ensure that they make their communities free of criminality.”

    “They must fish out the bad eggs from among themselves because criminality is criminality. In as much as we will protect them that they cannot be profiled badly, they should make efforts to show that majority of them are good citizens, contributing positively to the growth and development of Nigeria,” he said.

    Mohammed and some of his southern counterparts had been involved in heated exchanges in recent weeks.

  • AK-47: Fulani herdsmen unfairly treated in Nigeria, have right to defend themselves – Yuguda

    AK-47: Fulani herdsmen unfairly treated in Nigeria, have right to defend themselves – Yuguda

    Former governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yuguda has supported the incumbent governor of the state, Bala Mohammed over his recent comment that herdsmen have the right to carry AK47 to defend themselves .

    Isa Yuguda who was interacting with journalists shortly after he revalidated his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi yesterday said Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria have been unfairly treated over the years.

    “The Nigerian State has not been fair to these people (Fulanis), when the white man came they provided cattle grazing and routes from Maiduguri to Lokoja and Ilorin.

    These infrastructures were provided by the white people, and today where are the grazing reserves and the cattle routes?” he asked.

    “Didn’t you hear a senior citizen in Nigeria saying we should carry guns to defend ourselves, where were you guys, nobody wrote about it until when Bala said okay these people (Fulanis) also deserves the right to defend themselves”, he insisted.

    Yuguda said he wondered why the comment by governor Bala Mohammed generated the recent public outcry, arguing that; “There have been clamour by senior citizens in this country that we should carry weapons to defend ourselves, but when our governor, Bala Mohammed made a remark to that effect everyone is crying wolf – all the Nigerian press is saying ‘Bala is this,’ ‘Bala is that’

    “Didn’t you hear a senior citizen in Nigeria saying we should carry guns to defend ourselves, where were you guys, nobody wrote about it until when Bala said okay these people (Fulanis) also deserves the right to defend themselves”, he insisted.

    Former governor Yuguda, who blamed the Nigerian press for ethnic profiling of Fulani warned; “Let us stop being sentimental for goodness sake, otherwise this country will crumble.”

    “It’s crumbling in your hands and I’m afraid that you as the press are creating this problem”, he added.

    Yuguda also commended Governor Mohammed for the infrastructural development in the state, saying, “He is doing his best; anyone that occupies a seat can only offer his best.”

  • Bala Mohammed School of Anarchism and Disunity – Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    THE Nigerian state has never been as divided and besieged in its 107-year Amalgamation, as it is witnessing today. The 1966-67 crises which led to the three-year Civil War was roughly between two parts of the country. In the present crises, all parts of the country are in turmoil.

    The North East is besieged by the Boko Haram and Islamic State terrorists, the North-West by marauding bandits who have seized territories, and the North Central by terrorists and bandits, many of them, foreigners. The southern part of the country while having issues of criminality, cultism, and ethno-nationalism, has the general challenge of kidnapping and banditry perpetuated mainly by men identified as criminal elements of Fulani ancestry from within and outside the country who camouflage as herdsmen.

     

    In his January 2019, interview with Arise Television in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari explained this phenomenon to the Nigerian people: “The Nigerian cattle herder used to carry nothing more than a stick, but these are people with AK-47 and people refuse to reflect on the demise of Gaddafi. Gaddafi for 43 years in Libya, at some stage, he decided to recruit people from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, from Central African Republic and these young chaps are not taught to be bricklayers, electricians, plumbers or any trade but to shoot and kill. So, when the opposition in Libya succeeded in killing him, they arrested some and they did what they did to them. The rest escaped with their orphans and we encounter some of them in the North-East and they are all over the place now organising attacks.”

     

    With tension threatening to boil over, the Northern States Governors’ Forum, NSGF, met in a virtual conference of February 9, 2021, and declared: “The current system of herding mainly through open grazing is no longer sustainable, in view of growing urbanisation and population of the country.” They, therefore, suggested the adoption of modern methods of herding including ranching. The governors asked political authorities in the states to isolate criminality from herding, hunting or farming and bring criminals including those illegally occupying forest reserves, to book. They said they are working to douse tension generated by the eviction order issued to criminal herdsmen in some parts of the country, with threats of reprisals, and urged Nigerians to live peacefully as an entity.

     

    Two days later, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, broke ranks with his northern governor colleagues, distancing himself from their communiqué. Using the platform of the Bauchi Correspondents’ Chapel magazine launch, he fired three carefully packaged rocket launchers at their peace efforts. In his first salvo, Mohammed claimed that because: “the Fulani man…has been exposed to cattle rustlers who carry a gun, kill him and take away his cows he has no option (but) to carry AK 47 because the government and the society are not protecting him. It’s the fault of the government.” In this, he justifies the proliferation of arms in the country and killer herdsmen carrying guns.

     

    Secondly, he places them above the laws of the country including Nigerian Firearms Act of 1990 which provides that no person shall “have in his possession or under his control any firearm or ammunition except such person has a licence from the President or from the Inspector-General of Police”. A governor who swore to uphold the constitution and laws of Nigeria makes superfluous arguments for some people in the country not to obey the laws of the country. Since he is aware, as President Buhari explained in 2019, that many of these armed bandits are mercenaries, the governor cannot be patriotic in defending their profession and rationalising their criminality. He presents the criminals as victims and falsely accuses Nigerians as being responsible for their situation.

     

    In his Monday, September 16, 2019 interview on Channels Television, Bala Mohammed had rationalised the invasion of Nigeria by such men. “The Fulani man is a global or African person. He moves from The Gambia to Senegal and his nationality is Fulani…As a person, I may have my relations in Cameroon but they are also Fulani. I am a Fulani man from my maternal side, we (Nigerians) will just have to take this as our own heritage, something that is African. So we cannot just close our borders and say the Fulani man is just a Nigerian….They are all Nigerians because their identity, their citizenship is Nigerian even though they have relatives from all over the world. So, presumably, they are Nigerians because they move all over and have relations all over. That is why our population in Nigeria is fluid.” So, Mohammed knows precisely those he is making a case for.

     

    His second salvo against the Northern Governors is that Nigeria is a no-man’s land: “Nobody owns any forests in Nigeria, it’s owned by Nigeria. Under Section 23, 24 and 25 of the constitution, every Nigerian is free to stay anywhere.” His third false claim is that: “The West (Yoruba) doesn’t want to accommodate other tribes but we are accommodating your tribe in Bauchi.” He also attacked the Tivs on the same claims. In this, he strives to stoke the ethnic tension and pour petrol on it.

     

    I have asked myself why Bala Mohammed is championing this strand of anarchism and disunity. It cannot be for money, because even as executive governor with unrestricted access to security votes, he is very rich. I also do not believe he is high on anything.

     

    However, the immediate past of the governor revealed that he was facing criminal charges before he ran to be governor which gave him automatic immunity from prosecution of any kind until he is out of office. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had in 2016 arrested Bala Mohammed for alleged involvement in a N1.6 trillion questionable land allocation to Aso Savings Limited in the Federal Capital Territory. The anti-graft agency had on May 10, 2017, arraigned Mohammed before Justice Abubakar Talba of the Gudu Division of the Federal Capital Territory High Court for an initial N864 million fraud. The governor’s son, Shamsudeen Bala, was also charged with laundering about N1.1 billion.

     

    So can Bala Mohammed’s gambit be to put himself out as champion of the Fulani herders so that if his prosecution eventually reopens, he would claim he is being persecuted for his claimed Fulani origins? Can it be that he is sending signals to the ruling All Progressives Congress that he is game and would want the case against him dropped entirely?

     

    Some kind of calculation must be going on. Governor Bala Mohammed is like a hunter who uses a goat to set a trap; he cannot plan to catch a rabbit; he certainly plans to catch something bigger than his bait.

  • Governor Bala Mohammed, herdsmen and AK47 – Hope Eghagha

    Last two odd weeks, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State was in the news nationwide, at the closing ceremony of the Press Week of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ in Bauchi State. For a man who hardly gets national media attention, he certainly had to say something outrageous and asinine to get a mention in all the national dailies. Governor Mohammed expressed his mind on the rather spicy herdsmen-farmers-bandits issue that has almost torn the country into two parts or more. He was quoted as saying that “AK-47-bearing herdsmen are forced to do so because the government has failed to secure their lives and livelihood’. He then went ahead to give a punchline, exonerating the typical herdsman from blame: “it is not his fault, it is the fault of the government and the people! It is the fault of the people that herdsmen invade communities and attack innocent citizens, stealing, kidnapping, and killing! All because they must graze their cows on farmlands that do not belong to them!

    While the nation was yet digesting this odious and provocative message, Sheikh Gumi was quoted as telling bandits who received settlement from government that it is non-Muslim soldiers that have been fighting them. It was bad enough that a government sent a religious cleric to discuss peace with thieves. But to promote religious bigotry while engaging ordinary criminals who should be in jail is tantamount to treason! Do some people want to set Nigeria ablaze?

    To be sure, the governor’s misstep received knocks from all sensible and reasonable quarters. In reaction he came out with what an aide of his described as an explanation of what his boss had in mind. Indeed, the detailed explanation was worse. It showed the dissonance between Fulani leadership and the situation on the ground. He did not deny the statement ascribed to him that herdsmen should carry guns to protect themselves. His objective, he said, was to ‘avert the dangerous prospect of a nation-wide backlash and generalization of the Fulani clan as criminals’.

    Now, the good book, the Holy Bible states clearly that ‘great men are not always wise! On this matter, some of our leaders, in the north and south have not been wise. Mohammed has especially not shown an iota of wisdom, statesmanship, or prudence. He has deliberately refused to read the handwriting on the wall correctly. His interpretation of the current tension in the country has been warped, selfish and dangerous. He ought to have kept quiet if he had nothing profound to say. Nobody has said that all Fulani are criminals. That is certainly not the point. Nobody has said men from other ethnic groups do not engage in criminal activities. The major point being made is that the stay of Fulani herdsmen in communities has produced a new trend of criminality that we never witnessed before in the country. Most of those bloody killers are not the pastoralists we grew up to know who even apologised if their cattle destroyed crops. These ones are aggressive, move with a sense of entitlement and arrogance. The forests or bushes anywhere in Nigeria are their property. And they impose themselves on communities. How can a Fulani man travel to Uwheru in Delta State and ask locals to pay a fine to gain access to their farms?

    As for carrying weapons, what, if I may ask Governor Mohammed makes the Fulani herdsman different from ordinary Nigerians who were all asked to surrender their weapons, licensed or unlicensed, to the police a few years back? If the communities all carry weapons to fight or protect their lands having been failed by state security won’t the country descend into anarchy and war? What has Governor Mohammed made of the heroism now being ascribed to Sunday Igboho in Oyo State?

    The truth is that there is growing and deepening resentment against the incumbent government because it is perceived as promoting an ethnic agenda. The nation is being split further and further into ethnic enclaves. The Ibadan explosion has been contained, sort of. But anger is seething. Revenge has no end. If Fulani herdsmen can carry weapons for self -defence, the Igbo man or the Yoruba man can as well make the same argument. The impudence of the rampaging herdsmen is attributed to the entrenchment of Fulani men who have been placed in charge of different security units across the country. Certainly, this is not how to run a federation.

    What compatriots fear is the outbreak of violence that could spiral out of control. What has saved the nation so far is the refusal of any prominent political leaders in the south to make inflammatory statements on the plight of their kith and kin. The memories of 1967 to 1970 are still very clear. No one should by design or default plunge this country into a conflagration. Former military Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar recently warned that the situation in the country is dangerous and could lead to an outbreak of war! The bombings taking place in Orlu is interpreted differently by people of that ethnic group. There is infinite madness in the land right now. Sadly, if there is formal war, (aren’t we at war already?) these cowards are likely to flee the country and leave the poor to suffer. Let us remember Rwanda. Let us remember Sierra Leone. Let us remember Liberia. Things have not been the same again!

    Governor Mohammed should look beyond the selfish interest of his minority kith and kin while making comments on the sensitive issue of land grabbing. Governor of Taraba State was more practical and more sensitive when he said all Nigerians should be allowed to bear arms for self-defence. Although that could also be bloody and anarchic, it rises beyond the parochial and insensitive view expressed by Bauchi State governor. Governor Ortom whose State is in the thick of the murderous activities of the herdsmen has called on the federal government to be more responsible and non-partisan in handling the insecurity situation. It just takes three or four more angry Ortoms to further raise the tension in the country to dangerous proportions. We must not get to that level. And to think that the tension is caused by herders most of whom are non-Nigerians is the height of national foolishness. The time to apply the brakes is now!

    Professor Eghagha can be reached at heghagha@yahoo.com or 08023220393

  • ‘AK-47 is a Figure of Speech,’ Bauchi gov defends armed herdsmen comment

    ‘AK-47 is a Figure of Speech,’ Bauchi gov defends armed herdsmen comment

    Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State on Friday defended his comment about armed herders, explaining that he used AK-47 as a figure of speech for protection.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the Bauchi governor came under intense condemnation over his recent comments stressing the need for Fulani herdsmen to carry ammunition for protection.

    Defending his comment on a monitored Channels Television programme, Governor Bala said: “It is a figure of speech to show you the despondence, the desperation and frustration and the agony that this particular person is exposed to by his own people, by his own tribe and by other tribes who have all seen him as a criminal and therefore, he has the inalienable right to protect himself.

    “What I said in that context, I was addressing the media people. And the topic was the use of the media to foster national unity and I was trying to situate the problem,” the former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) explained.

    “The Fulani man is so exposed, dehumanised, demonised in fact, because he is being seen as a bandit and so, anywhere he goes, he is being pursued. Not only in the southwest or the southeast, even in the north because he is in the cattle route, his commonwealth which I call his cows, are being taken and rustled and of course, sometimes, they are fined beyond your imagination. If one cow strays into the farm because the cattle route has been taken away illegally without the authority giving permission, he will be fined seriously, mercilessly.

    “And so, he is exposed and then he has no option but to protect himself. We have so many vigilante groups in Nigeria even at the level of government, subregional groups, sub nationals are establishing vigilante groups to make sure that their communities are protected. Why wouldn’t the Fulani man protect himself? And if he carries a gun in order to protect himself, it may not be a legal carriage, it may be legal. He may also register and carry it to protect himself.”

  • My AK47 comment not in support of criminal Fulani herdsmen – Bauchi Governor

    My AK47 comment not in support of criminal Fulani herdsmen – Bauchi Governor

    Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed on Sunday described as erroneous, claims that he had, during his speech last week in Lafia, shown support for crimes committed by some Fulani herdsmen.

    He said nothing could be farther from the truth, adding that as a “constitutionalist”, he could not support anything that would subvert the Constitution.

    Mohammed, in a statement, said his reference to AK47 was simply to put in perspective the predicament and desperation of law-abiding Fulani herdsmen who have become victims of cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping and assassination.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the governor, during last Thursday’s Press Week Celebration of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ), had said herders bore firearms ”for self-defence” against cattle rustlers.

    But in his statement on Sunday, Mohammed’s media aide, Mukhtar Gidado, provided a context for his statement.

    Gidado said: “During the speech, the Governor used the occasion to weigh in on the contentious issue of clashes between herdsmen and farmers, particularly against the background of the eviction and other forms of restriction orders issued by some state governments and non-governmental entities.

    “The primary objective of the Governor was to avert the dangerous prospect of nationwide backlash as tempers were flaring up and given that the phenomenon of inter-ethnic migration is a national pastime involving all ethnic groups in Nigeria.”

    He made several clarifications. They include that “At no time did the Governor set out to justify criminality by anyone, no matter the person’s ethnic nationality. Rather, he admonished us, in the interest of national unity, to avoid wholesale branding of any ethnic group as it is inconceivable that anyone group can be made up of only criminals. By extension, the Governor made it abundantly clear that it will be inappropriate to label anyone tribe based on the crimes of a few members of the ethnic group. “

    “Second, to the extent that not every herdsman is a criminal, the Governor’s reference to AK47 was simply to put in perspective, the predicament and desperation of those law-abiding Fulani herdsmen who, while carrying out their legitimate cow-rearing business, have become serial victims of cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping and assassination.

    “These are the people who, in the absence of any protection from the security agencies, are forced to resort to self-help, to defend both their means of livelihood and their lives.

    “As a constitutionalist, which he has proved over time, all through his political career, Governor Bala Mohammed will be the last person to advocate a subversion of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He did not do so in the past; he will not do so today.

    “Third, Governor Bala Mohammed’s description of forests, as “no man’s land”, (please read as gift of nature), is a carry-over from his geopolitical environment where a pastoralist could set up camp, in any forest, for a few weeks without causing any uproar or opposition. To interpret such a temporary stay as a form of ‘land grab’ by the Fulani herdsmen is completely incorrect.

    “Neither does such temporary habitation of the forest inconvenience anyone nor does the itinerant Fulani sojourner, bother anyone about his plight in the forest characterised by life without access to electricity, pipe-borne water, good roads or hospitals.”

    He said, on the contrary, Governor Mohammed was very familiar with the Land Use Act, including the criteria for land acquisition and could not seek to undermine the statute which, as Governor, he has sworn to uphold.

    He added: “Fourth, the Governor would want it placed on record that his statement was intended to caution all stakeholders to guard against escalating the tension, just as many patriotic stakeholders, particularly from the North, have been working round the clock to avert reprisal actions that could throw the entire country into a cauldron of unimaginable proportions.

    “Rather than vilify Governor Bala Mohammed, it is incumbent on all those criticising him to admonish those Governors whose lack of restraint is responsible for the escalation of this crisis. Governor Bala Mohammed’s antecedents, as a bridge-builder, humanist and nationalist are so well known that he will never, under any circumstances, deliberately fuel any national crisis or subvert the Constitution.”

  • Herdsmen compelled to carry AK-47 in self-defence, says Bauch governor

    Herdsmen compelled to carry AK-47 in self-defence, says Bauch governor

    Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has said Fulani herders are compelled to carry firearms in self-defence.

    Speaking during the Press Week Celebration organised by Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union Journalists Bauchi State Council, the governor said the arms prevent cattle rustlers from killing them and taking away their cows.

    Mohammed said the failure of the government to protect the herders made them resort to self-help.

    He said: “Because the Fulani man is practising the tradition of pastoralism, he has been exposed to the vagaries of the forest, cattle rustlers who carry guns, kill him and take away his commonwealth, which is the cows.

    “He has no option than to carry AK47 because the society and the government are not protecting him, what is his fault; it’s the fault of the government and the people.

    “You don’t criminalize all of them, because, in every tribe, there are criminals.”

    The governor also accused his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, of a bad media campaign against the Fulani ethnic group.

    He said the situation has worsened the herder-farmer crisis, accusing him of criminalizing the entire Fulani across the country.

    “The governor that is most wrong is the governor of Benue State, my brother and colleague Governor Samuel Ortom; he started all these.

    “If you don’t accommodate other tribes, we are also accommodating your tribes in Bauchi and other places.”

    “We have so many Tiv people farming in Alkaleri, in Tafawa Balewa, farming in Bogoro LGAs; has anybody told them to go?

    “We have not; because it’s their own inalienable rights to be there.

    “We have Yoruba people in Bauchi, for over 150 years, even before the birth of Nigeria; some of them have risen to become permanent Secretaries in Bauchi, in Gombe and in Borno.

    “You can see what our colleagues in the south-west and some from the south-east are doing.

    “If Cyber Crime is practised by one tribe, you don’t criminalise all the tribe that they are criminals.”

    “We should be very sensitive, and you as journalists, you must exercise restrain; you must decipher from wrongs and rights, something that is so bad, that can divide us, that can threaten our unity, you don’t do it”, the governor appealed.

    Governor Mohammed also commended his Plateau State counter Simon Lalong for “ending the mutual suspicion” between Fulani and farmers on the Plateau.

    “I must comment the chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State.

    “With his diverse background despite being a minority on the Plateau, he’s leading the northern governors with focus, with a lot of sense, and with unity.

    “And we need people like that; the fighting between farmers and Fulani in the Plateau has stopped; you know why; because of justice and unity; because of patriotism; because of community engagement; because of governance that fosters understanding between the diverse ethnic groups on the Plateau,” he said.

    “And that is what we are doing in Bauchi, everyone is important, the media must single out those people for promotion, not just the people that will speak from Ondo, or Ekiti that Fulani should leave their forest.

    “Nobody owns any forest, the forest is own by Nigeria; under section 23, 24 and 25, of the constitution, every Nigerian is free to stay anywhere.”

  • Bauchi governor’s private secretary resigns

    Bauchi governor’s private secretary resigns

    Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, on Saturday, approved the resignation of Mr Musa Mohammed, the Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to the governor, according to a statement by Mr Mukhtar Gidado, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA), on media, to the governor.

    According to the statement made available to newsmen in Bauchi, the governor commended the former PPS for his contributions during the period he served in his administration.

    “His Excellency, Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state has approved the voluntary resignation of his Principal Private Secretary (PPS), Mr Musa Mohammed, with effect from 21st January, 2021.

    “While expressing his appreciation to the former PPS for the invaluable contributions he rendered, during the period of his stewardship as the Governor’s Principal Private Secretary, the governor wished him the best in his future endeavours,” the statement said.

  • Bauchi Gov clears air on alleged plans to join APC

    Bauchi Gov clears air on alleged plans to join APC

    Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state has denied speculations that he was negotiating to defect from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the platform on which he was elected as state governor, to the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The denial was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Bauchi on Friday by Mr Mukhtar Gidado, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on media to the governor.

    “In its front page lead story of 20th November 2020, Thisday newspaper alleged that the Bauchi State Governor, Gov. Bala Mohammed was among three Governors, elected under the platform of PDP that are negotiating to join the ruling party, APC.

    “We wish to state that the story is a disingenuous speculation driven by a clear marketing urge, to feed the appetites of readers whose hunger for salacious political news has been fueled by the movement of the Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. Dave Umahi, to the APC and the spate of political alignments and realignments in the country.

    “We also wish to state that Gov. Bala Mohammed has never contemplated leaving the PDP, let alone joining the APC.

    “Rather, he is presently preoccupied with fulfilling his campaign promises, on the basis of which the good people of Bauchi State supported him, to defeat an incumbent administration.

    “It is to the credit of the Bauchi political elite that, despite the division between the Legislature and the Executive in the State, each controlled by a different political party, they have constructed a novel bipartisan arrangement whereby the government of the State is jointly run, in the war against hunger, infrastructure deficit, the near collapse of education and petty crimes,” Gidado said.

    Gidado further stressed that the governor considered any talk about defecting to another party and all the permutations about 2023, as unwholesome distractions.

    He added that, it was Mohammed’s considered opinion that, not only are speculations premature, but that it was the height of insensitivity, to the yearnings of the electorate for transformational change that would lift them from their despair to a new era of guaranteed security of lives and property, economic prosperity, political stability and national unity.

    “Gov. Mohammed, therefore, asks his supporters, members of his political family and all the good people of Bauchi State to ignore the report as it has no substance whatsoever.

    “The Governor also wishes to reassure the good people of Bauchi State that his Administration is firmly focused on ensuring a good life for all, irrespective of party affiliation, gender, tribe or creed.