Last week, Lai Mohammed released a list of past leaders facing corruption charges. It didn’t come as a surprise to many that the name of former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Bala Mohammed, who together with his son have been charged for corruptly enriching themselves and other crimes bordering on money laundering, and fake assets declaration, made the list.
What will come as a surprise to many is an embarrassing advertorial purportedly sponsored by a faceless group calling themselves the Coalition of Bauchi Political Stakeholders. The group claimed the inclusion of Senator Bala Mohammed’s name in the list is a blackmail while also making sweeping but preposterous claims regarding the embattled former senator’s chances in the polls come 2019. “The people of Bauchi are only waiting to swear in Senator Bala Mohammed come 2019 and no amount of blackmail can change that,” the spokesperson of the group said.
Besides the clear show of disrespect to the people of Bauchi that this ill-advised defense of a man with clear questions to answer brings, the fake projections that a man facing corruption charges will be overwhelmingly voted to lead the people of Bauchi is an insult to their sensibilities.
I am yet to see where a people so favoured to have an action-oriented governor who has gone to every length to deliver where his predecessors have failed woefully will be so misrepresented before Nigerians by a people who claim to be speaking on their behalf.
This, without doubt, is a show of ghost force aimed at cajoling Bala Mohammed into sharing whatever is left of his alleged loot with them and the people of Bauchi state will love to be left out of this show of shame.
Perhaps these people need reminding that, the electorate in Bauchi state are tasting true leadership and will no longer be drawn into this dirty politics that has left them impoverished before the incumbent governor swept in for the rescue.
It is true that the universal adult suffrage gives virtually every citizen of a state who satisfies all the requirement to run for an office the right to vote or contest elections, people who wish to run for offices must first contest and win their personal elections before going public with the hope of convincing the electorate to vote for them. This is why instead of banking on the endorsement of rogue and ghost political coalitions whose imaginary reach does not extend beyond their living rooms, Bala Mohammed will be better off approaching the courts to first clear his name before making a play for power. That’s the only way he or his foot soldiers will generate the moral justification to talk of contesting elections let alone ousting the incumbent governor, Barrister MA Abubakar, who I contend has outperformed all the past leaders of the state.
With Bala Mohammed’s pedigree in the power metrics of Nigeria, Lai Mohammed must be a fool to include his name in that unsurprising list of Nigeria’s enemies; looters without cause. And I can tell you that the man is no fool. He must have considered the legal implications of such a move before going public and I believe that if anything, the list needs to be reviewed upward.
I challenge all the praise singers who went to town singing the song of a man who has been silenced by his antecedent to ask the federal government for reparation in lieu of any perceived injury. This is where it ends; none of these paid praise singers can show themselves in front of any court of competent jurisdiction in defense of Bala Mohammed. Why then do they insist on foisting him on the people of Bauchi state? Could it be that they are the remnants of the former powers that were seen off by the incumbent governor in 2015? What could be the ultimate motive of these people? Surely it is not their welfare, they have failed in the past!
Well, here’s some bad news. The masses in Bauchi have seen real governance up close and it will take more than a few self-acclaimed deciders to juggle them back to the gory days where state resources were shared over tea amongst friends while the people were left to rue their chances.
I will not relent and I urge all well-meaning citizens of Bauchi state to gear up for the battle ahead, to resist whatever these people who may come at them with lucre will do. They must refuse to mortgage their future and stand resolutely by their conscience. This is the only way posterity will remember them fondly.
For the next election, the people of Bauchi deserve to be given the chance to select between better alternatives and not people staring down the barrel. If unfortunately, the incumbent governor of Bauchi will fail in his reelection bid, it must be to someone who will guarantee more action than he has tirelessly whipped up in his sojourn of the government house so far. Anything short of this will be a disservice to the teeming masses of Bauchi who are only now being. thrust into real governance by Governor Abubakar.
Finally, the bitter pill that must be swallowed by all the enemies of progress of Bauchi state is that, we the progressive elements in the state who are for the first time enjoying what democracy is all about by Governor Abubakar stewardship will not relent until he is reelected to continue his good work come 2019 and no amount of paid endorsement from the camp of Bauchi’s collective enemies can change that. They can either join us or wait for their turn to lead only in the kingdom of accused looters but not Bauchi state.
Sunusi writes Bauchi
