Bauchi bye-elections: Gov. Abubakar’s litmus test By Farida Yahaya 

In every aspect of human life prevailing manifestations give a viable terra firma for predicting future assurances. Nowadays, schools conduct mock examinations to test the individual capacity of prospective students sitting for an external examination.
It is now the practice in the advanced world and advocates of democracy to run an online election for candidates from different political parties and such exercises generate the yardsticks for determining winners of the elections.
Though not as widely as general elections, the results of the bye-elections conducted in some constituencies of a particular state at different levels invariably determine the likely outcomes of the general elections in that state.

Governor Muhammed Abdullahi Abubakar of Bauchi state is running a first lap of a remarkable stewardship in the state under the flag of the All Progressives Congress, APC, a party that was built with transparency and accountability in the service of the people of the state of Bauchi. His performance within the stretch has earned him a higher position in the radar of performance among his predecessors and indeed his contemporaries as he gets the state out of the woods.

Yet, certain egocentric natured and spendthrifts politicians in the state and especially among the ruling APC brought about a group of adversaries who have a preoccupation of scheming against the second term ambition of the governor. The prevailing circumstances within the state’s political chemistry are boosting the success of the governor in the upcoming 2019 governorship election. Such a bad day for the antagonists of the people’s governor.

Yes, going by the obvious political indicators in Bauchi, it promises to be a very troubling 2019 for Dr Muhammad Abubakar’s political foes.

The trio of Ali Pate, Bala Jibrin and Yakubu Lame in cahoot with others may have have covertly and overtly fought the emergence of the gentleman governor as the APC’s flagbearer in the 2019 election but he had resoundingly defeated them in that transparently contested primary election to emerge as the winner.

While Governor Abubakar got a whopping 75,086 votes in the primary election which by the way that the trio insisted to be conducted via direct process, Yakubu Lame secured a mere 3,988 while Ali Pate and Bala Jibrin polled as meagerly as 2,886 and 2,539 votes, respectively.

While the governor coasted home in a resounding victory, it was indeed a humiliating outing for them!

Of course, the house built on prejudice would never stand at a time of trials. Ali Pate who many believe to is driven by an unmitigated desperation, immediately left the APC to aspire under the People Redemption Party, PRP, throwing caution to the wind and showing his rather inordinate quest to grab a leadership position with no recourse to character, patience and party ideology.

It is now abundantly clear that, these characters were not fighting for the survival and progress of the APC but to massage their fragile egos and appetites. 

It is beyond unreasonable for an aspirant who managed to get as few as 2,886 votes in the election participated by all the APC members of Bauchi state to have believed that confronting Governor Abubakar who under the most transparent process secured more than 75,000 votes in the same primary election was at all reasonable.

There is a stand-up comic in the PRP.
More chances unfolding for the incumbent Governor Abubakar.
Isa Yuguda who was the governor of the state and the predecessor of Governor Abubakar recently announced his defection from the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) to the ruling party in the state, APC.

Speaking on behalf of the former governor at a press conference, his former commissioner for information, Salisu Barau, had declared that Yuguda decided to join the ruling party after due consultations with his supporters and like minds who believe in the development of Bauchi state under the leadership of Governor Abubakar.

Fortunately for Governor Abubakar and the Bauchi APC, Isa Yuguda did not come alone but with over 500,000 of his supporters from the GPN who have volunteered to follow him and join the winning team not for personal ego or interests but for the betterment of Bauchi state and the success of the governor and the APC in the 2019 general elections.

Governor Abubakar gaining more ground, still
In another booster, Dr Sama’ila Dahuwa who was a former governorship aspirant of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has also joined the Governor Abubakar APC. He equally came alongside a large number of his supporters who insist that his decision to join the APC with his supporters was in view of the structure and manifesto of the party and the giant strides of the Abubakar administration. He attributed his earlier hard stance towards the APC-led administration of Governor Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar to the need for the administration to do the needful for the people of the state and therefore promised to contribute his quota towards the victory of the APC candidates in all elections come 2019.

Certainly, the bye-elections results are a manifestation of victory for Governor Abubakar and APC in the 2019 general election. In fact, the success of the All Progressives Congress in the Bauchi South senatorial bye-election in the six out of its seven local government areas is another overwhelming evidence that the party will replicate this in the upcoming election. It is not surprising that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, only managed to get Bogoro local government area, the council of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

Additionally, for the APC, the recent victory of the All Progressives Congress in the bye-election held in Toro Federal Constituency where only the ruling APC and main opposition PDP fielded candidates is another emphatic success for the APC and Governor Abubakar. And the emerging victories for the governor and his party, the APC, are too weighty to be ignored in Bauchi politics because these are defining moments and the bedrocks for the victory that lay ahead in the 2019 general election.

The fact that PDP’s Bala Muhammed has got so many baggage hanging on his neck shows that the electorate will most likely NOT risk voting for him. As far as political process in Bauchi is concerned, Bala is a political brand that is not sellable to the people of the state, coupled with the fact that he cannot match his credibility with that of the proven and untainted track record of Governor Abubakar. The wide credibility gap is his political albatross.

Without much stupefaction, one can easily deduce that, the recent use of vulgar and inciting statement by Bala Muhammed is considered the last kicks of the 
dying horse and 2019 could be the time of his political oblivion in Bauchi state.
Yahaya writes from Bauchi.

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