BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – With the face-off between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State unlikely to ebb soon, the Party’s stakeholders in Bauchi State have been cautioned to stay clear of the crisis and avoid taking sides.
The warning, which comes from the Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, is particularly targeted at candidates vying for various elective positions in the 2023 general elections.
Governor Bala Mohammed, who spoke at the party’s stakeholders meeting, comprising candidates, PDP leaders, and members, held on Saturday at the Government House, Bauchi, said staying away from active involvement and taking sides in the crisis remains what is good for Bauchi State.
A pensive Bala Mohammed further advised the stakeholders thus; “We are the only state in Nigeria today and I am proud to say that our players are very loyal and they listen to us, and on that, I want to thank our Chairman and the State Working Committee for making it possible to have very transparent primaries where we all emerged.
“The party is supreme, the party is the most important pedestal, whatever we become, we must remember it. Certainly, in some places, there were hues and cries but in Bauchi, yes, there were some complaints and we tried to address them and that is why if you see some of the national analysis on the problems and challenges of the party, you’ll never hear Bauchi being mentioned”.
According to him, “We are together from top to bottom. We respect our presidential candidate and we are with him, we respect the national party, the national working committee, and here in Bauchi too.
“It is not that we don’t have problems, we do have problems, but politics is about accommodation, swallowing your own problems and challenges with the greater benefits of the bigger picture, the general public”.
“So, our responsibility or our interests is now Bauchi State and we are here without any pinch of arrogance to make sure that we confront our challengers because they are trying to take something away from us and we are going to do better than them; we have done better than them”, the Governor stressed.
Offering insight on the reasons behind the convening the meeting, Governor Bala said; “I called for this meeting so that we can sit down and reminisce, discuss and cut a new way, new challenges, looking at the electoral act, looking at the party guidelines, and of course, our personal challenges.
“We will also regroup and refocus because we are confronted with a very long period of electioneering and campaigning which will cost so much and take so much time and we have to strategize,” he said, adding; “Again, we have to look at the guidelines, what we should do because very soon, campaigns would be legitimate and we will all go out. I want one structure for the presidential, gubernatorial, and other elections and we should all go together.
“Certainly, you may have your own contact persons here and there but that is the way to go. And I don’t want any of us to get involved in the controversy at the national level, it is above us. Leave me to handle it the way I am handling it as your leader because certainly, we cannot afford that. It will have disparaging consequences on us.”
He also said those to be deployed for the elections at the polling units would be ‘unified’, warning that no party leader would be allowed to use any of his relations as agents.
“I want to put a word of caution, those that we are going to have as canvassers at the polling units, we will not allow any party leader to go and bring his relations, his kiths and kin to patronize them, I will not allow that”, the governor warned, noting that what happened to Atiku in 2019 and he lost the election was because so much money was given to people but they converted such as political patronage. We will not do that, we cannot commit the same mistake”.
“So, whoever is emerging will be completely devoid of any relation with us and must be a party man except where he is confirmed to be better than any other person. And we will take people from the polling units to the polling areas”, he said.
The governor also used the occasion to announce Farouk Mustapha, who defected to the PDP after losing his gubernatorial bid in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as the Director General of his 2023 Campaign Organization.
