Bauchi state governor Muhammed Abubakar, has described as “reckless and sinking man” the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, over allegation of misappropriation of fund in the state, even as he threatened to sue the number four citizen.
Speaking with newsmen at the national secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Tuesday in Abuja, the governor said there was no way a person who represent a tiny part of the state out of the twelve House of Representatives seat should become a threat to his re-election bid.
“I want people to first and foremost know that Dogara comes from a very tiny part of Bauchi state. And he is contesting for one of the twelve house of representatives seat in the state. I am contesting for the governorship. So, our parts even if they meet they will meet in that tiny enclave only. I understand where he is coming from. He is a sinking man.
“I am not his opponent, Dogara is grabbing at every straw, and one other thing to understand, in 2015, Mr. President didn’t win election in Bogoro, Dogara’s local government council. I didn’t win election there. But, today Muhammadu Buhari is president and I am Governor of the state.
“People should understand that Dogara represents a total of eighty thousand registered voters. I won election in 2015 with over three hundred thousand difference. So, do your arimethics and place it very well.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, has alleged massive fraud and theft perpetrated under Governor Abubakar to the tune of N400 billion from May 2015 when he assumed office to date.
While responding to the allegagtion, the governor said “Dogara is clutching at straw. Go to the website of the federal ministry of finance and download the total allocation to Bauchi state from June 2015 till date. And, then do a calculation. You will have a total and the entire allocation to the state. It is not up to 400 billion.
Abubakar, however, said Dogara as the number 4th citizen of Nigeria should be careful with his utterances. “There is no way the number 4th citizen of Nigeria can be reckless with everything he says. I have incidentally while I was at the office of the legal adviser, my lawyer R.S.A. Raji called me in respect of the matter. I am considering suing him.
Asked to comments on Dogara’s outburst where he described the President as a dictator, Abubakar said “as the number citizen, he cannot afford to be reckless with his uttrances. He speaks without seriously thinking of what comes out of his mouth. And mr president is the chief security officer of the country.
“Anybody who snatches ballot boxes is a common criminal under the electoral act. Therefore stopping a criminal is not an act that should be politicised. Because we keep on complaining of lack of free, fair and transparent elections in Nigeria. And, mr president is bent on ensuring the 2019 election is free, fair and transparent.
“If it takes stopping criminals to ensure the transparency of that election, so be it. There is nothing wrong in stopping criminals. You as a citizen you have the right under the constitution to arrest a criminal in the act of committing an offence.”
On why he has not asked the federal government to repair the some of the feferal roads in his state, he stated that ‘’I am actually doing the federal roads because it is part of my programme. It is the dualization of all the entry to the city of Bauchi and this are all federal roads. But, with the permission of the fedral government. I wrote to him before I started the dualiation project. I assiure you that by the time we complete the dualization projects the issue of bad roads will be a thing of the past in Bauchi city.
He expressed confidence of winning his re-election bid, saying “I can assure you I do not entertain any fear. If you have followed the last outing of mr president in Bauchi when we had the rally, all the big names of the PDP had crossed over to the APC. So, what we have is just a part of the original PDP that is contesting against me and I do not have any fears.”
