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Tag: BAUCHI GOVERNOR

  • Bauchi Governor’s 2023 presidential posters flood Kano

    Bauchi Governor’s 2023 presidential posters flood Kano

    Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has join league of 2023 presidential hopefuls whose campaign posters now adorn strategic places in Kano State.

    Kano, one of the politically most influential states, because of its population, is being flooded with many campaign posters of presidential hopefuls.

    Among the presidential posters that have flooded Kano are those of the APC National Leader Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, among others.

    The Nigeria Patriotic Youths for Bala Mohammed 2023 claims to be the sponsors of Bala Mohammed’s campaign posters, but sources said the governor’s campaign organisation is behind the posters, which carry the inscription: “To move Nigeria forward 2023”.

    Some of the posters were pasted on flyovers, roundabouts and monumental buildings, among areas.

    The posters were seen on trees in Gadar lado, the flyover at Zaria road, Club road, Zoo road, Dangi roundabout and Court Road.

  • Southern Governors claims on nepotism in Buhari’s government true – Bauchi Governor

    Southern Governors claims on nepotism in Buhari’s government true – Bauchi Governor

    Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed has said the Federal Government has lost ideas on how to address the various economic challenge bedeviling the nation.

    Mohammed, who spoke on Thursday at the Government House shortly after performing the Eid prayers to mark the Sallah celebration, said the FG should stop the blame game and look for a way forward.

    According to him: “I think the FG has lost any idea to grow the economy. What they are best known for is the blame game. They are not even fighting the corruption they claimed to be fighting ”

    Mohammed, who blamed the nation’s backwardness on nepotism by the Buhari led-administration, added there is no fairness and equitable allocation of appointments across the six geopolitical zones.

    He said: ”There are sacred cows and small gods who cannot be touched in Buhari’s government but if you are not fair and equitable in your government, If there is nepotism where only one section is giving positions in your government, then there will be problems.

    ” There is an iota of truth in what the Southern Governors said on some sections being highly favoured at the detriment of others.

    ” What we know in this country as a Federalist is that there should always be a balance. If you don’t practice fairness at the top , then you cannot get it at the lower level. Unless we show fairness and equity we cannot grow the economy .”

  • 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.

  • Bauchi governor part of terrorist Fulani group terrorising Nigeria – Ortom

    Bauchi governor part of terrorist Fulani group terrorising Nigeria – Ortom

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom on Monday alleged that Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, is part of the terrorist Fulani organisation that is terrorising this country.

    Governor Ortom who made the statement while aspeaking journalists in Makurdi, Benue State capital said alleged that Governor Mohammed must be a terrorist for supporting illegal arms wielding by foreign herdsmen.

    “I wouldn’t want to be joining issues with my brother, friend, and colleague Bauchi Governor. But since he has continued to vilify, intimidate and blackmail me. It is said that silence is consent. I am compelled to respond to him.

    “I am beginning to think that my brother, the governor of Bauchi State is part of the terrorist Fulani organisation that is terrorising this country.

    “Why do I say this? This is the same governor who took the oath of office to protect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This constitution does not leave room for allowing foreign herdsmen to come in without valid papers.

    “This is a man who says that a Fulani man is a global man and can come in from anywhere and enter Nigeria. It is quite disappointing to hear a governor who took the oath of office …maybe he should go back and check the oath of office he took to check maybe the constitution gives room for foreign terrorist Fulani herdsmen to come into Nigeria,” Ortom said.

    He also reacted to Governor Mohammed’s statement which says herders can carry AK-47 to defend themselves noting that “his recent outburst that Fulani herdsmen are justified for carrying AK-47 to protect themselves. I don’t know where the constitution of this country allows that.”

    The Benue Governor there called on Governor Mohammed to render an unreserved apology and learn from the provisions of the constitution that, land both territorial, forest, and aquatic, are vested on the governor of a state who holds them in trust, instead of indulging in inciting Fulani herdsmen against innocent Nigerians.

  • ‘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.

  • JP Clark: Bauchi governor pays condolence visit to Edwin Clark

    JP Clark: Bauchi governor pays condolence visit to Edwin Clark

    Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, on Friday paid condolence visit on national elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, over the death of his younger brother, the renowned poet, Emeritus Prof. (Dr.) John Pepper Clark.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the literary icon died on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 in the comforting arms of his wife, children and siblings.

    The governor who came with his entourage, said that, on behalf of his family, the government, and the people of Bauchi State, he had come to pay condolence visit on the national elder statesman, over the death of his younger brother.

    Mohammed said the loss of Prof. J. P. Clark, and it’s attendant pains, is not only felt by the Clark family, but also by the people of Bauchi State. He said that the Clark family has contributed a lot to the development of Nigeria in various aspects, as in the case of the late Prof. J. P. Clark, whose works, poems and poetry enriched the nation’s education curriculum.

    The governor described himself as a beneficiary of the intellectualism of the late Prof. because as secondary school students, they read and acted his works and plays. He said even though the death was a big blow to the literary world, Prof. J. P. Clark lives on in his works which will be continually read by even generations yet unborn, and people will know that there was once a man.

    Meanwhile, Governor Mohammed has described the elder statesman and elder brother to late Prof. J. P. Clark, Chief Edwin Clark as the most misunderstood person in the country by those who do not know him well. The governor said having had the opportunity of working closely with Chief Edwin Clark, he knows that he is a true nationalist. He also said that despite Chief Clark’s popularity and connections, he was surprised to see him living in a rented modest house in Abuja, while people were allocating houses and plots of land to their family members, friends and cronies who have not served this country up to a quarter of the way Chief Clark has done. He felt that it was wrong, that true nationalists should be appreciated in the country, especially when they are still alive, in order to motivate others; and that was why he deemed it fit that a house be sold to him in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Street named after him, during his tenure as FCT Minister.

    He stated that despite the fact that he is from the northern part of the country, Chief Clark is his father, and that he is quite confident and proud describing him as such, and also as his boss’s mentor.

    In his response, Chief Edwin Clark thanked the Governor for the visit, and also asked him to convey his sincere appreciation, on behalf of the Clark-Bekederemo family, to the people of Bauchi State.

    He said that the out pour of tributes to his late brother, Prof. J. P. Clark, both nationally and internationally, from President Muhammadu Buhari, to everybody else, is quite humbling and in fact gives the family strong solace and consolation; that the pleasant tributes, will remain as fond memories to the family.