The Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, has said the presidential standard bearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, is ‘sidelining’ him and has threatened to ‘teach him a lesson’ for contesting against him (Atiku) in the party’s presidential primaries in May.
Mohammed had contested against Atiku in the May 28 primaries held at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, where he alongside 12 other aspirants was defeated.
Out of 767 accredited ballots at the election, Atiku polled 371 votes whereas Mohammed got 20 votes.
Mohammed, who was recently named the vice-chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, said this in a protest letter, with reference number, GH/OFF/09/V.I, and dated November 3, 2022.
He claimed that he was “excluded from the activities of the PCC” as it relates to his office.
In the letter, addressed to the party chair, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, and signed by Mohammed, his deputy, Senator Baba Tela; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman; state Chairman of the PDP, Hamza Akuyam and 30 others, read in part, “I was deliberately sidelined from the reach-out campaign of the PCC in Kaduna, which interacted with major stakeholder groups and the northern political establishments such as the Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders’ Forum, Sadauna Foundation, Arewa Research and Development Progress, etcetera.”
He also alleged that he was targeted by some political gladiators purportedly endorsed “directly or indirectly by the presidential candidate of our party, Atiku Abubakar.”
“While Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his political cohorts insist that I must be “punished” for contesting against him during the presidential primaries of our party. The self-acclaimed ‘kingmakers’ around the Waziri Adamawa want a pound of flesh from me because I have refused to capitulate to their unbridled sense of entitlement which is pregnant with selfishness and dictatorial tendencies.
“The last group of the “Bala Must Go” campaigners are those whose egos have been bruised by my continued political relevance, rising national profile and the groundswell of public acclamation that have trailed unprecedented developmental strides of the PDP-led administration in the state,” he stated.