The attention of the seven members of the House of Representatives from Bauchi State, elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to a tendentious statement titled “On Governor Bala Mohammed’s Latest Tirade and Buffoonery”, by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara.
We would have ignored Dogara’s statement for what it is: the sour grapes by a sore loser who is capitalising on an opportunity to redeem his battered image as a political retiree.
However, we shall be failing our constituents who, on the one hand, are victims of the unprecedented hardship the country is experiencing and, on the other, beneficiaries of the giant strides recorded by the people-oriented PDP-controlled state administration under the able leadership of Senator Bala Mohammed.
For the sake of clarity, we address, below, some of the issues raised by the former Speaker in his ill-advised, yet predictable diatribe.
*1. On the EndBadGovernance Protests.*
Pretending to align with the protesting youths who have been at the receiving end of the missteps of the APC-controlled Federal Government, the former Speaker begins his statement by attacking President Tinubu and concurring with Governor Bala Mohammed that Nigerians are undergoing excruciating hunger, hardship and insecurity. Then, leaving the substance of Bala Mohammed’s statement calling for concrete steps to reset the economy, Dogara launches a vicious attack on the person of the Governor.
Pray, if Dogara had been motivated by noble and patriotic considerations, why would he prioritize style over content, prose over substance and an individual, no matter how powerful, over the entire society? The substance of the matter is that Nigerians can no longer cope with the high inflation, insecurity, and complete erosion of their living standards that have created a huge confidence deficit across the country.
That Dogara devoted about 98% of his write-up to sycophantic abuse of Governor Bala Mohammed tells the extent of hatred he has against the person of the Governor.
*2. Governor Bala attacks the President after saving him?*
Unlike Dogara, as the number one citizen of Bauchi State, Governor Bala Mohammed has a duty to God and to mankind to speak the truth irrespective of the consequences.
There’s no better time for leaders to speak on behalf of their people than now when inflation is put at nearly 35% and the Federal Government’s monetary, fiscal and subsidy policies have caused the widespread and unprecedented impoverishment of Nigerians.
If Dogara would twist Governor Bala Mohammed’s patriotic pronouncement on the protest and the national economic malaise to hoodwink the powers that be and railroad his way back to relevance, so be it.
*3. Scurrilous Attack on Governor Bala Mohammed.*
In the said statement, by describing Governor Bala Mohammed as a thug, the former Speaker exposed himself to ridicule. How can a man who, on two occasions, staged the biggest political upsets in the history of our dear state: first by defeating an incumbent Government in 2019 and second, by winning his re-election in 2023 with a landslide margin, be described as lacking in substance? We had thought that Governor Mohammed’s re-election which defied, and demystified Dogara and his forces of darkness that, prior to the polls had arrogated to themselves God’s crowning powers, was enough to humble, dismantle and bring him back to earth from his high horse. Unfortunately, his actions proved to be the contrary.
In truth, living with the humiliation of defeat has never been an easy task. Sadly, Dogara is faced with the incurable dilemma of being forced to live with the reality that rather than deplete, Bala Mohammed’s profile keeps growing.
*4. Price of Foisting Governor Bala Mohammed on the State*
As always, Dogara continues to promote the false claim that he foisted Governor Bala Mohammed on the people of Bauchi State in 2019. Assuming, without conceding that he did, he should tell the world who foisted the Governor again on the state in 2023 when, despite being a PDP member, the former Speaker opted for anti-party activities against the Governor by publicly driving the campaign activities of an APC candidate.
*5. Building of Government House*
No amount of mischief by Dogara and his co-travellers will erase the justification for the remodelled Bauchi State Government House. Only psychopaths and mischief makers, who care less about the environment of work, image of the state and the safety and comfort of the staff, would fail to acknowledge the rationale for a befitting Government House that has raised the status of our dear Bauchi State in the comity of states and provided additional space for public engagement.
We did not know that Dogara could push the warped narrative that Bala Mohammed built a befitting residential accommodation as if there is a public service rule that prohibits public officials from owning private houses. What’s good for the goose is always good for the gander. The same public service space that allowed Dogara to own a mansion in Abuja when he was Speaker also allows Governor Bala Mohammed to also own one. At the risk of pushing the argument, if Dogara, who until he became Speaker was relatively unknown, could afford such a mansion, why wouldn’t Bala Mohammed who rose to become a Director in the Federal Civil Service, a Senator, a Minister, a large scale farmer and now, a two-time Governor?
*6. Out of school children (OSC) and the healthcare delivery*
Without underestimating the problem of out of school children in Bauchi State, rather than push lies such as Dogara is doing, we should appreciate the unrelenting effort of the Bala Mohammed Administration in achieving a sustained reduction in the numbers. This is evidenced by the huge investment in education and health sectors made by the Bauchi State Government under Governor Bala Mohammed as well as the outcome of UNICEF updated survey on OSC that run contrary to the disinformation campaign of Dogara who, we regret to say, appears to lie without any reservation.
*7. Construction of Flyovers*
When Dogara dismisses the ongoing construction of flyovers in Bauchi with the argument that there is no traffic congestion to justify the project, he betrays a lack of understanding of the beneficial aspects of massive infrastructural projects in stimulating economic development.
Truth is, for anyone to say that Bauchi Metropolis does not experience traffic congestion in the Central Market and Wunti Gate areas, as Dogara has done, simply means that such a person must have been completely disconnected from Bauchi State. We regret to say that we are not surprised because Dogara has not passed through the affected places in the last 10 years.
People of Bauchi State welcome these projects and appreciate all the multiplier effects of the projects on our economy through massive employment of both skilled and unskilled labour, business boost for sellers of construction materials, and food vendors among others.
Besides, by so viciously pushing back against iconic projects such as the remodelled government house and the flyovers that enhance Bauchi’s aesthetic ambience, and boost commerce, we wonder if Dogara wants the state to perennially remain in the backwaters of development, as a rural capital.
It is also imperative, in the face of Dogara’s apparent amnesia to remind him that, in addition to these landmark projects, Bala Mohammed has delivered nearly 1,200 kilometres span of roads within 5 years as Governor; a clear evidence that he will not be distracted. Little wonder that in under three years, he was conferred with Best Governor Award in Rural Infrastructure (2022) and Best Governor in Urban Renewal (2024).
*8. Stewardship as FCT Minister*
As a mischief maker, Dogara hideously tried to place Bala Mohammed on a collision course with his friend, the Minister of the Federal Capital territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike.
Despite the challenge of low budgetary appropriations put at a mere N260 billion in 2013, compared to N1.3trillion in 2024, Governor Bala Mohammed acquitted himself creditably as a visionary minister whose imprimatur on the evolution of the Federal Capital Territory will remain indelible not only through the several new satellite towns that he initiated but, more importantly, the Land Swap Project that, as the former minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello admitted, would save the Federal Government N1.3 trillion in 2021. One can only imagine how much that will be today.
To Bala Mohammed’s credit, the six-lane Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Airport highway was completed and put to use among other projects numerous to mention.
Reminiscent of the experience in Bauchi, Governor Bala Mohammed’s tenure as FCT minister was characterised by prudent management of available funds: using little resources to achieve so much as well as out of the box initiatives that opened new revenue avenues. It is to Bala Mohammed’s credit that two cash cows, the Abuja Internal Revenue Service (AIRS) and the Abuja Signage Agency, were created during his stewardship as the FCT minister.
Ironically, like a drowning political lightweight desperate to ingratiate himself to his targeted rescuers, either for pecuniary or positional benefits, in comparing Bala Mohammed with Wike, Dogara inadvertently exposes the tragedy that befell the FCT between 29th May 2015 and 29th May 2023, and by extension, the underbelly of the APC by emphasizing how Wike, a PDP stalwart on loan to the APC, is using high budgetary allocation to complete the litany of abandoned projects inherited from his predecessor, Mohammed Bello.
*9. Doctrine of Necessity*
It is rather unfortunate that, for Dogara, there are no sacred boundaries. Otherwise, he would not attempt to so mindlessly discredit Bala Mohammed’s role in moving the Doctrine of Necessity motion calling on the Senate to grant presidential powers to then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, as provided by the constitution.
No sane person or serious nation would allow a country to operate in a leadership vacuum. It’s therefore a sheer mischief for Dogara to think that a country of 200 million people should be allowed to live without a president or be manipulated by a power cabal that rests its legitimacy on those mundane values that undermine national cohesion, political stability and sustained development.
It is instructive that Bala Mohammed moved the Doctrine of Necessity motion even as an opposition lawmaker who, following the penchant in Nigeria, could have opted to benefit from what some people erroneously characterised as the internal problem of the PDP. Instead, as the statesman that he has always been, even in the face of threats and the risk of being politically guillotined, Bala Mohammed stood on the side of the truth. He stood on the side of Nigeria. That he was later appointed minister of the FCT was just happenstance. That is his legacy. What is Dogara’s legacy?
Similarly, like any other right thinking and patriotic person, Governor Bala Mohammed has a duty to accept any offer to serve the public and contribute to the nation’s development as Barrister Nyesom Wike of the PDP is doing presently!
*10. PBAT saved Bala Mohammed’s Victory at the Supreme Court?*
By insinuating that the President gives them directive on how and who to give favourable judgment to, through his naked dance in the public, Dogara has cast the most damaging aspersion on the integrity of our judiciary. It is disturbing enough to accuse the judiciary of partiality or miscarriage of justice. But when a former speaker of the House of Representatives pointedly suggests that the President of the country could be a vehicle for the miscarriage of justice, that is a terrible situation. We condemn this extreme desperation on the part of Dogara.
We call on the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the affected judges that delivered the judgement on Bauchi Governorship election in 2023 to demand that Dogara recant his allegation, apologise to the judiciary, the President and the country and undergo counselling to purge him of failure induced melancholy. We further call on the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take steps to discipline Hon. Dogara for betraying the fundamental principles, values and ethics of the Association through his allegation on Justices of the Supreme Court.
*11. Our final message to Dogara*
With what we know as Federal Lawmakers of the betrayal Dogara orchestrated against Tinubu in the 2015 speakership election between him and President’s Chief of Staff, the Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Dogara should be taking the President Tinubu for a ride if he thinks that maligning Governor Bala Mohammed will erase the treachery and get him the President’s attention.
It should still be fresh in the minds of both the President and his Chief of Staff on how Dogara and his co travellers weaponized sectional differences and, deployed a campaign of calumny, to steal the Speakership seat from Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila. Neither the President nor his Chief of Staff will forget the use of calumnious words that we don’t want to mention here again.
Finally, unlike Dogara who craves personal benefit from the present situation, while pledging to work with the President and all stakeholders towards exiting the present quagmire, let the word go out that we stand resolutely with Governor Bala Mohammed, a nationalist and patriot, a modernising and transformational leader whose iconic footprints on Bauchi’s developmental landscape have changed the lives of our people and his achievements, recognized and applauded by eminent Nigerians including the Federal Government.
E-Signed:
1-Hon. Mansur Manu Soro — Darazo/Ganjuwa Federal Constituency
2-Hon. Aliyu Aminu Garu — Bauchi Federal Constituency
3-Hon. Bappa Aliyu Misau — Misau/Dambam Federal Constituency
4-Hon. Adamu Hashimu Ranga — Ningi/Warji Federal Constituency
5-Hon. Sani Ibrahim Tanko — Shira/Giade Federal Constituency
6-Hon. Auwalu Audu Gwalabe — Katagum Federal Constituency
7-Hon Mohd Dan Abba Shehu — Zaki Federal Constituency
