The reconciliation moves to bring the Bauchi state governor, Muhammed Abubakar and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to a peace table, seems to have collapsed as both parties launch offensives, deepening the face-off. NAJIB SANI reports the irreconcilable undercurrents
Since the coming of the All Progressives Congress (APC) into power after the 2015 general elections, the elected National Assembly members from Bauchi State, especially the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Senators Ali Wakili, Nazif Gamawa, Isa Hamma Misau and the member, representing Misau Local Government Federal Constituency, Ahmed Yerima,
have been quarreling with the state Governor Mohammed Abubakar, for reasons best known to the fighters.
Although, the warring parties had given different reasons as the causes of the conflicts in various fora and media, the electorate and political analysts have continued to express divergent views on the perpetual rivalry between the law makers and the state chief executive.
Blueprint observes that Senator Ali Wakili and Representative Ahmed Yerima are the major ‘foes ‘of the governor who often castigate the governor and his administration through several media programs, newspaper interviews, articles and advertorials just as Abubakar and his aides counter the critics furiously. At times, he or his government officials would be the one to attack the legislators verbally and put them on the defensive.
It would be recalled that the national assembly members had sometime last year along with the minister of education Malam Adamu Adamu who is ‘a son of the soil ‘ and the Ex-police affairs minister Ibrahim
Yakubu Lame visited the national headquarters of the APC as well as the President Muhammadu Buhari where they reportedly expressed their displeasure with the governor.
As the party and the presidency intensify efforts to reconcile the ‘political enemies ‘, Speaker Dogara added ‘salt to the injury’ in his recent newspaper interview where he lambasted the governor and ‘vomited what was in his stomach’.
He claimed that his quarrel with Abubakar was due to the failure of the present administration in the state to deliver dividends of democracy to the citizens since its inception.
Dogara had in the interview made many allegations against the governor which he said were what triggered the present animosity between them. Some of which include, alleged lack of prompt payment of salaries to workers in a predominantly civil service state, forging a state assembly resolution to collect four billion naira bank loan and lack of accountability in the management of state finances.
Other alleged misdeeds committed by the Bauchi state Chief Executive Officer, according to the speaker, were, mismanagement of the Paris club debt refund, endless verification of civil servants, shabby treatment meted out to traditional rulers, lack of consultation with key stake holders and diversion of local governments funds.
Aside from the aforementioned, Dogara accused Abubakar of illegal collection of bank loan when he had not yet appointed members of the state executive council which was a ‘breach of due process ‘. This is
even as he further alleged that no major development projects were being executed in Bauchi State as were going on in neighboring states of Plateau, Gombe and Adamawa.
“ I can trace the beginning of my quarrel with the governor to last year when a delegation from the three local governments that make up my constituency paid me a courtesy call in Abuja. Though I believed all the while that my relationship with the governor was cordial, the
three local government care taker chairmen that led the delegation were suspended as soon as they returned to Bauchi. When I asked the governor why he did that, he said they traveled without his
permission even though they obtained permission from the permanent secretary ministry for local governments
He added that soon after, he (Dogara) sent a medical team to attend to the health needs of people in his constituency but they were allegedly denied the use of health facilities owned by the state government and had to use federal medical facilities instead.
He however denied that he reported the governor to president Buhari.
He recounted that the president sent for him after hearing what was happening. And he asked him for another appointment to bring leading APC stake holders and elders each of whom he claimed addressed the president on the issues at hand. The president therefore asked them to compile the grievances and discuss them with the governor.
“ At first Governor Abubakar was cooperative and he even claimed that he had addressed and solved most of the issues. No longer that Governor Abubakar disowned the peace process and said he was no longer interested in it “.
However Abubakar had on various fora alleged that all the national Assembly members teamed up against him just ‘ because he turned down their selfish requests’ to buy them houses in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and exotic cars as was the practice by his predecessors in the past. He vowed that he would never take public funds meant for projects and purchase luxurious cars or mansions to the legislators ‘who collect millions of naira as unjustified allowances.
Blueprint reports that the governor had challenged the senators and House of Representatives members severally to account for the monies given to them for constituency projects.
The senior special assistant to the governor on media and communication Comrade Sabo Muhammed in an interview with Blueprint said “ When his excellency Governor Muhammed Abubakar was sworn in on 29th May 2015, he made some pledges to the citizens of the state. Some of such promises he made were prudence and transparency in governance. He equally promised to investigate and recover all public funds carted away by the officials of the previous government and return same to the coffers of the government for the good of the state. So he cannot mismanage state resources in satisfying the personal interests of few individuals”.
“To redeem his promise of ensuring prudence in governance, Governor Abubakar has after taking over slashed his salary by 50 percent, his deputy by 50 percent too while those of political appointees were deducted by 30 percent. It is common for governors to purchase luxurious cars for themselves and their aides but M.A Abubakar did notdo that. Up to now, he uses the old vehicles left behind by the previous government’’. He asserted.
On the allegation of salary problems, the governor’s spokesperson stated that his principal owes no salary or pension to civil servants and retirees stressing that government has settled all backlog of salaries and arrears. In terms of social amenities, Mohammed said the governor has awarded contracts for the construction of roads in various cities in the state and that works were ongoing.
Asked why the national assembly members were at loggerhead with his boss, Comrade Sabo Mohammed has this to say ‘’ We always ask them this question and up to now they couldn’t answer. The works being carried
by the governor are visible. But we ask them, what do they do with the huge funds being disbursed to them as constituency allowances? Our investigation revealed that every senator collects not less than N30 million as constituency allowance while every member of the house of representatives collects N18 million monthly. So, where is the money and where are the constituency projects? He retorted.
Another ardent supporter of the governor Mr Ishaya K. Joshua asserted that parts of the achievements of his mentor in the state was the revival of moribund state owned industries such as the Bauchi fertilizer company. According to him, the company was one of the very first state enterprises to benefit from the ‘dynamic economic activities of the action oriented governor’.
He claimed that the company had been abandoned by previous state governments, the facilities were non- functional, the machinery was idle and unused and hundreds of the company’s workers were allegedly demoralized and despondent as a result of non-payment of salaries for many years before Governor Abubakar astutely intervened.
‘’ The governor summoned political will to back words with action by the strategic injection of much needed funds as well as the repair and replacement of obsolete equipment and tools that put the company back
on its feet to the extent that it was well above average capacity, ready to surpass the previous year’s 30,000 metric tonnes capacity of last year,a feat unprecedented in the annals of north east geo-political zone’’.
Also reacting to Dogara’s criticisms of Abubakar, a politician, Lawal Mohammed Masa opined that the Speaker cannot sit in judgment over the performance of the governor ‘because the governor is answerable to the Bauchi state voters’.
Buttressing his points, Masa claimed that since the inception of Abubakar’s administration, it has settled the backlog of unpaid salaries and has continued to meet its salary obligations regularly emphasizing that if people’s welfare means dividend of democracy, the governor deserves praise.
‘’ What Dogara has failed to acknowledge is the efforts of Governor Abubakar to boost education and other critical areas of social service. For devoting 20 percent of the 2016 budget to education, does Governor Abubakar deserves credit or condemnation? Governor Abubakar also approved the re-validation and payment of seven months’ salary arrears of 430 newly recruited teachers to the tune of over N93 million. Besides, N330 million was approved to settle WAEC,NABTEB and NBIS for examination and registration fees for Bauchi state indigenes’’.
As the dirty rivalry between Dogara and Abubakar deepens, the citizens are watching how the unfolding drama will end.
