The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, says he forgives his detractors within and outside the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following his successful re-election bid in last Saturday’s governorship election.
Mohammed, who made a live appearance Tuesday on Channels Television’s Politics Today, gave the assurance that he would extend an olive branch to those who feel antagonised by him.
According to him, even now, there are traditional rulers and ulamas who worked with his political opponents. “I have forgiven them. My own is to make sure I unify everybody,” he said.
But the governor said the PDP in Bauchi never had anybody who was a member working against him and other stalwarts.
“People like the former Speaker of the House of Representatives were never with us. The former Governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Mu’azu, was only an admirer of our presidential candidate,” Mohammed said.
“He had always been my traditional foe and I have always apologised for defeating him in 2007. I thought that was forgotten, but that he was always looking for his pound of flesh.
“The other older person, my father, the Wazirin [Muhammadu Bello Kirfi], who was able to enlist the antagonism of the emirate and he was sacked and he was blaming it on me, I believe it was his time to go.”
But as far as the governor can tell, Kirfi has never been a card-carrying member of any political party.
“I believe he was a traditional ruler and one of our elders that we respected, and he took the toga and the throne of the Creator God to say that he was the one who made me, and then he was demystified and demeaned by his own utterances and vagrice,” he added.
In Mohammed’s opinion, there is “certainly nothing much between me and Dogara as a brother”, while describing Mu’azu as an elder brother whom he had much respect for.
He added that there was also no bad blood with Wazirin, expect “that he didn’t want me to be governor and he told everybody he didn’t want me”, prompting him to fight to assert himself.
“So, we knew from the beginning, they were never card-carrying members of the PDP. In fact, on the contrary, some of the elite who appreciate our contributions, like the former deputy governors and other commissioners came to our aid from the [opposition] APC,” he said.
The governor however said it was his intention to make sure that the stakeholder wranglings in the PDP, what he described as division and rancour, were all over.
Nevertheless, he promised to go about legitimising his position through legal means “because I’m humble.”
“[I will] offer the olive branch to whomever wants to come and join us and even take the milestone to reach out to them – those who feel they are the major stakeholders and they are losing out,” he added.