It’s no doubt that the ongoing highly orchestrated attempt by the Bala Mohammed government to paint the previous administration of Mohammed Abubakar in bad light in the eyes of the people of Bauchi state using the media is an exercise in futility.
It has now become a tradition for an average Nigerian politician to preoccupy himself with fault finding of his predecessor in order to win the sympathy of the people.
More prominent in these defective tactics are those who themselves have little or no integrity to stand upon in the eyes of the public.It also pertinent to know that, before assuming office as Governor of Bauchi state in May 2015, M.A Abubakar had no case of fraud hanging on his neck. His reputation did not depend on media propaganda, but on professional competence. He served at state and federal levels in various capacities diligently without his character or antecedents being questioned.
I am yet to see the basis for the current media propaganda by a former minister whose son three years ago lost four houses and 12 choice plots worth billions of naira and 37 other commercial plots to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In fact, you can’t give what you don’t have, so I was lectured. The absurd record of a former minister is intact in the minds of the public and it shall be activated if that is what he wants. They should create a department of propaganda and historical revisionism.
The new administration in Bauchi is playing to the gallery and it reminds me of Bob Dylan’s quote, “No one is free; even the birds are chained to the sky.” Nowhere is this more hyperbolised than in the Bala administration, which is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people of Bauchi state in a never-ending cycle of unadulterated lies against the Abubakar administration.
For those who mistaking politics of hatred for achievements, let me rewind their minds a little. Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar began his career in the civil service where he rose through the ranks to become the Bauchi state attorney general and commissioner for justice.
As history may have it, on completion of his youth service, Barrister Mohammed Abubakar joined the civil service as a pupil state counsel in the Ministry of Justice, Bauchi state. He rose to the position of senior parliamentary counsel and head of legal drafting department of Bauchi state House of Assembly in 1983.
His record is there for verification and his sojourn has never been questioned or doubted unlike in the case of the present czar in the state. Again, when the military intervened in 1993, Barrister Mohammed Abubakar went into private practice as managing partner of Fortuna Chambers. He became the chairman of Nigeria Bar Association, Bauchi state branch from 1996 to 1998 and was elected deputy national secretary of the Democratic Peoples Party in 1997. He was appointed Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and served in Kogi, Delta, Plateau and Rivers states between 1999 and 2003.
In 2003, he was promoted to the post of national electoral commissioner in charge of legal services and supervisor of Borno, Jigawa, and Yobe states. He retired from INEC in 2008 and went back to legal practise as managing partner of M A Abubakar & Co. (Fortuna Chambers). This law firm has offices in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Bauchi.
Of course, this has been the life and contribution by Mr Abubakar. Those who want to use the lens of his four years of administration to redeem their tainted and stained image have committed serious publicity blunder. There is this natural law invoked parable of what goes up and what comes downNo matter how high it goes up, it will surely come down to its level.
Equally, before facts are distorted, let me repeat some of his successes in Bauchi state because it is worth repeating. M. A Abubakar procured over 20,000 metric tons of assorted fertiliser worth N2 billion which was distributed to farmers across the state in the 2015-2016 farming season. He also ensured adequate supply of the product to all farmers at every farming season. He ensured the resuscitation of Bauchi owned fertiliser plant; His administration keyed into the federal government’s Anchor Borrowers Programme for rice, wheat and maize production.
Indeed, over 8,000 farmers in the state have benefited which is still ongoing and the N194,570,000 was spent for the purchase of equipment/materials and training of extension workers, agrochemicals as well as other equipment worth N28,327,000 to serve as buffer stock for the control of agricultural pest and diseases.
He successfully established the China/Nigeria Junaco Technological Development Site/Research for Mushroom farming in Toro local government area; repaired 29 tractors at the cost of N17,832,500:00 through direct labour; the Fisheries law of 1997 was amended and a new one passed by the Bauchi State House of Assembly and assented to by Abubakar which allowed for enforcement and protection of water bodies as well as fish and other aquatic animals, while generating revenue to the state.
In terms of infrastructure development, roads were constructed all over the state and healthcare facilities were provided in all the local government areas in the state with numerous partnership which yielded positive outcomes.
Though, this article isn’t aimed at bringing the remarkable feats recorded by M. A Abubakar administration to the fore and space will not in any way contain all his achievements; it is, however, imperative for people to know that Bauchi never had it so good like under the regime of Abubakar.
While PDP’s victory is being challenged at the election tribunal and we are optimistic that the mandate will surely be restored to its rightful owners, it is also good if the PDP government in the state focuses on governance rather than the campaign of calumny against Barrister Abubakar.
Finally, politicians who believed that Power lies in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your choose will surely come down from their horses one day.
Yusufu writes from Bauchi
