Governor Abubakar of Bauchi State
By Baba Shehu Oscu, Bauchi
The Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar has said that he would not repeat the mistakes he made during his first tenure if reelected.
He was fielding questions at a forum organized by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for governorship candidates in the state.
He emphatically accepted that mistakes were made during his first tenure and would be corrected during the second tenure if reelected into office.
Abubakar announced that he had fulfilled all the promises he drew up in his 7-points agenda encapsulated in health, education, agriculture, solid minerals, tourism, infrastructural development and youths and women development.
The governor explained that though all the promises were not 100 per cent achieved due to scarcity of resources, brought about by the global economic recession.
He promised that all ongoing projects would be completed during his second tenure while new ones that have direct bearing on the lives of the people would be initiated and executed.
On the N26.4 billion retirees entitlements being owned the state government, he explained that he inherited N15 billions gratuity in 2015 but when he was about to pay same, he was given a bill of N26.4 billion.
He said that the upsurge in gratuity within two years baffled him, hence his government’s resolve for the inauguration of a committee to ascertain the rise in the backlog.
The governor further explained that he later set aside N1billions to commence settlement of the debt pending when the verification exercise would be completed.
He denied allegations by opposition political parties that he had either queried or demised some traditional rulers and civil servants in some local governments where All Progressive Congress (APC), failed to win during the last elections.
The governor recalled that the opposition political parties won only two federal constituency seats out of the 12 seats while APC won the remaining.
He said that he wouldn’t have resulted to such impunity especially that he was soliciting for supports and votes from the same people.
Abubakar therefore appealed to the people to come out en-masse Saturday and massively vote for the APC, stressing that Bauchi State has never been an opposition state to the nation’s ruling party.
