|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Yerima Aliyu Giade
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
An elder statesman and a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi State, Alhaji Yerima Giade, has declared that the desire of APC to govern state is not to build anything new but to build on the successes and achievements of previous governments in the state.
Yerima Giade said that: “We are on a mission to build on what other Governors have done from Abubakar Tatari Ali to Sen Bala Mohammed. We have not come to do anything new for the people” .
He added that, “We have not come to build a new Bauchi state, honestly, we can’t do that. Bauchi has been built already but nobody would say, even in his house that there is no need for repairs. We are on a mission to fix and repair all that needs repairs and fixing, what isn’t available, we do our best to provide it.”
The Elder statesman made the declaration while speaking during a press conference organized by the gubernatorial candidate of the APC in the state, Saddique Baba Abubakar, to thank the delegates and the people of the state for giving him the opportunity to fly the party’s ticket in the 2023 General elections.
He then lamented the neglect of the Bauchi Radio and Television stations by successive administrations which has made them ineffective for several years.
The one-time National Commissioner of the National Character Commission also lamented that previous administrations in the state have neglected the two government-owned media stations, calling on Saddique Abubakar to ensure that he changed the situation if elected Governor.
According to him, “I feel bitter when I go to Giade, I don’t listen to BRC. I traveled to Delta state and was in my hotel room in the morning and I was able to tune in to the Bauchi Radio. I went to Nguru in Yobe State, I couldn’t get any radio station except that of Bauchi. I went to Taraba and was listening to the radio and I also got BRC, Bauchi”.
He added that, “If I don’t listen to BRC, I am not a true and bonafide indigene of Bauchi. As I speak with you, the people of Bauchi North Senatorial District, 70 to 80 percent of them only listen to Jigawa Radio” .
He asked, “Why is this so? Have we been forgotten? Are we not loved? If a person in Dass will tune in and listen to BRC, I don’t see a reason why someone in Zaki shouldn’t listen to Bauchi Radio. If you come on board, you should address this not because you’re from that area but because that is what you ought to do”.
Yerima Giade further said that, “If always a Bauchi indigene will listen to Jigawa Radio, and God even helped us we’re in the same political party with them unlike when the then governor, Saminu was in office and we were in different parties, we didn’t enjoy listening to their radio” .
“It is now that we are in the same party that it is a bit better. I am telling you all this so that if you become Governor, you should address all these so that we can be watched and listened all over Nigeria”, he said.
“It is not because of anything, it is because it has worried me for a very long time. I’ve tried for long even when Isa Yuguda was governor, I kept telling him but nothing was done. But we have been left to listen to Jigawa Radio, what is Jigawa when compared to Bauchi that we should be listening to them?” he wondered.
He then promised the people of Bauchi State that, “by God’s grace, if we take over power, BATV and BRC will be one of the best in the North .”
Speaking on the recently conducted governorship primary of the APC as “one of the best and well accepted by the people, members of the party and even observers.”
He commended Journalists for their balanced and fair reportage of the whole process opining that if they were biased, things would have gone wrong.
Yerima Giade assured Journalists in the state that if Saddique Abubakar becomes Governor, “we will not hide him from you, you will always have access to him, he won’t be far from you” .
“But I also want you to know that we have boundaries and you also have boundaries, if you see us doing our things as politicians, give us space and allow us because that’s how best we know how to do and when we also see you doing your own things as journalists, we will give you your space,” he said.
