BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – Some concerned citizens of Bauchi State on Wednesday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), not to make the mistake of succumbing to pressure to field Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubaka if the party desires to win the 2019 elections in the state.
The concerned citizen led by Dr. Ibrahim Lame, Capt. Bala jibrin and Hon Ibrahim Zailani, told journalists at a press conference in Abuja that Governor Abubakar did not pass through party primaries and the people would therefore not accept any form of imposition of the governor on the people.
They pointedly said that no party primary elections for the 2019 governorship, National and State House of Assembly took place in Bauchi state except the Direct Presidential Primary election.
In his comments, Dr. Ibrahim Lame, said the abysmal low performance of Governor Abubakar cannot guarantee APC’s victory in the state, adding that rather than concentrate on governance, the governor is instead working hard to summon Emirs to Abuja on November 8, 2018 to visit President Buhari with a view to endorsing his (Abubakar) governorship ticket for 2019.
Lame described Governor Abubakar as an interloper, who was not part of the group that formed the APC in Bauchi but merely crept in and took the governorship ticket of the party in 2014.
According to him; “We are saying categorically that Governor Abubakar cannot be our governorship candidate in 2019. His candidature is not acceptable to the people of Bauchi because he did not participate in Party primary as he only tried to circumvent the process.”
In his own comments, Capt Bala Jibrin said Governor Abubakar, who he said is not a bonafide indigene of Bauchi State, has only succeeded in taking the state backwards, stressing that with over three and half years into his tenure, Governor Abubakar to the consternation of the people of Bauchi state has no single project initiated, completed and commissioned by him throughout the state.
In his words; “Since his assumption of office, he has ignored or refused to settle pension and gratuity of the numerous retirees of the state. As at today, the sum of N15 billion stood as unpaid pension and gratuity to our senior citizens resulting into some untimely death.
“It is despicable that most of the patronage accruing from the state are given to non-indigenes especially from Kano and Gombe States including exclusively the family members of Governor M.A. Abubakar.”
Speaking in the same vein, a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Ibrahim Zailani said that the people of Bauchi state frown at the attempt to politicize their revered Emirs and therefore urged President Buhari to ignore all antics of Governor Abubakar, adding that his sole aim of bringing the Emirs to Abuja is to plead for his second term ticket.
Zailani called on the people of Bauchi State to rise to the occasion by rejecting Governor Abubakar in the 2019 election for non-performance, arrogance and plundering of the wealth of the state.
