By; Mohammed Kawu, Bauchi
The political voyage of Governor Bala Mohammed to find a credible platform ahead of 2027 elections is still in blues as another committee to chart a new way forward was weekend set up in Bauchi.
The committee set up after the Saturday’s stakeholders meeting which brought in notable PDP members across the state, assured that it would within the next seven days chart a new political destination for Governor Bala and by extension all PDP members in the state.
Briefing the press shortly after the Bauchi PDP stakeholders meeting at the banquet hall of the Government House, state party chairman, Hamza Koshe Akuyam said that the setting up of a new committee is ensure nobody is left behind in the party’s mass movement to another political platform.
“The Movement of Governor Bala Mohammed is exceptional where every decision is subject to scrutiny by stakeholders in the state. We are on course in trying to see where we are going to go, looking at what happenen to our party, the People’s Democratic Party”
The Bauchi State PDP Chairman explained that a new committee has been set up to look into every possibility that would take cognisance of the system under the leadership of Senator Bala Mohammed to ensure that it doesn’t disappoing people of the state.
One of the resolutions of the stakeholders meeting, according to Burga, is the setting up of a new committee saddle with the mandate to prepare their collective exit and possibility of joining any political party in tandem with what the stakeholding is looking for.
Burga gave the composition of the new committee as the state deputy governor, Rt. Hon. Auwal Mohammed Jatau as chairman, with PDP Deputy National Chairman, North, Hamza Koshe Akuyam, State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon. Abubakar Yakubu Suleiman, Senator Baba Tela, Senator Adamu Ibrahim Gumba, Senator Bala Adamu Kariya, among others, as members.
The Bauchi PDP chief categorically stated that the new committee is currently engaged in consultations to assess and determine the most appropriate political platform the PDP in Bauchi to adopt should the need to leave the party arise.
Burga therefore strongly advised the general public to disregard what he termed as circulating rumours claiming that Governor Bala has already defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing such reports as inaccurate and misleading.
It was also gathered that the coming on board of the new committee was borned out of grudges of PDP hierarchies in the state as to what could be their positions or interests should Governor Bala defect to any political party.
The Bauchi PDP hierarchies have argued that the governor admist waves of defections in the country is only pursuing his own interest in the party without critically looking at its larger folloership, an action they consider as self-centered-ness.
It could be recalled that last Tuesday, a delegation of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by former SGF, Engr. Babachir David Lawal stormed Bauchi with the mission to cajole Governor Bala Mohammed into their fold.
Engr. Babachir Lawal told the press shortly after their closed-door meeting with the governor that, “We are here in Bauchi state at the instance of our national chairman, Senator David Mark who is fully aware that the coming battle between us in 2027 to elect new leaders to lead Nigeria can only be successful if all the various segments of the country that have good intentions and goodwill to all Nigerians are able to unite to stand and resist the impending disaster waiting for us in 2027”.
He added, “If we make a mistake and allow this government to continue post 2027, Nigeria will probably be no more as we know it. By then, we would probably be parking people of starvation in trailers who are unable to afford medical services”.
“By then insurgency will also get to the level that they would be winning from bedroom to bedroom, harassing, killing and maiming people”.
It is with these in mind, the former SGF said, ADC national chairman sent them to speak to Kauran Bauchi to join the ADC, having been a noted fighter, worrier, fearless, while his energies will contribute to what they already in the party.
Babachir concluded, “We had a very fruitful discussion in a friendly and brotherly manner. We understand the task before every Nigerian and the task before Kauran Bauchi as a Governor that when he join ADC will be one of our field commanders
Governor Bala Mohammed had while responding said, “Here this morning is a delegation from ADC headquarters where my mentor, my boss, Senator David Mark is leading and he has sent an oblique to me, to reconnect me with my umbilical cord of the opposition where I had always emerge from”.
“Certainly, as a leader in the PDP, we have really found ourselves in a very serious ambivalence, where our party is headless, and of course I have pursued all avenues for reconciliation and it has not worked. And our people are putting me under extreme pressure, and we have set up two committees, one in Abuja at the national level because of my position as a leader of the party, and one here to look at where to go”.
Governor Bala stated, “We left all our actions on ground, including APC itself, but certainly we have discovered that we cannot be where we are not wanted, we define a place within the opposition, that is where our fate of our political destiny is taking us to, and ADC appears to be very enduring, luring and more acceptable platform by the people that are talking to me so far”.
Senator Bala Mohammed said however that because he was managing two constituencies, Bauchi and the federation, they would try doing things well, and to come together with all the party’s interests in the PDP at both the national and Sub-national levels.
“But really we have told them, we are amenable to join them (ADC) in certain things and conditions, and negotiations are concluded, as well as other parties that we are looking for, but as of now, I think our preferred destination, but we have not concluded in a manner that we have to deepen stakeholding and collaboration so that we don’t make mistakes”.
The Governor concluded, “We are very grateful for the recognition, because when you’re facing a very serious political problem like ours and somebody will offer a hand, we are very modest and our humility says that we are nothing until we go to the field. Therefore we have to face the challenges of this existential solution that is being provided to us by ADC, we would not allow this opportunity to sleep out of our hands”.
However, a day after the Governor’s meeting with the ADC, precisely Wednesday, an APC delegation led by the national chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda and Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano state stormed the Bauchi Government House at the instance of the host state to discuss his possible defection to the ruling APC.
Our correspondent learnt that no sooner had the duo bodies spent one and a half hours in a closed-door meeting at the Governor’s office, they abruptly came out only to board their vehicles enroute airport to Abuja, as one of them clearly stated that they would conclude their negotiations there.
Governor Bala was in Bauchi Friday only to hold stakeholders meeting with the state PDP chiefs who bitterly complained about the Governor Bala’s unilateral resolve to defect to any political party of his choice unmindful of the interests of party stakeholders in the gamble
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