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By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
In spite of the controversies trailing his purported endorsement alongside former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki as consensus PDP presidential aspirants, Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir has insisted the announcement by the Chairman, Northern Elders Forum, Prof Ango Abdullahi stands.
The Bauchi State Governor further said that the statement credited to a former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, that the endorsement was injurious to the North , was his personal opinion adding that even if he (Lamido) did not endorse them, others have done so on his behalf.
Reacting to the development in an interview with Journalists on Saturday shortly after receiving a nomination letter from The Sun Newspaper, for an award as ‘Governor of the Year 2021’, Bala Mohammed said that it was a pity that Sule Lamido was not consulted before the endorsement.
The Governor said that, “I have tremendous respect for Alhaji Sule Lamido as a former Governor and as one who is leading former Governors, he is entitled to his own opinion. I don’t know what the Northern Elders used or who they have contacted to come up with the consensus and it is a pity if he was not consulted or if he was not contacted”.
According to him, “However, he is not the only person in Northern Nigeria and those that have been contacted have done the job on his behalf because such responsibility is always done on behalf of others but he is entitled to his own opinion. We respect him but even if he doesn’t endorse us, others have endorsed us,”.
Speaking on how he will reconcile with Bukola Saraki in order to bring out one between the two of them, he said: “This is also part of politicking. We are not the only ones, we have the Wazirin Adamawa (Atiku Abubakar) who did not even participate in the consensus, we are still going to do it, it is part of the political engineering” .
The Governor also said that, “There are other aspirants from the South that we must walk to and make sure that we come to a converging point including people like Sule Lamido. We will make sure we get their endorsement and get their confidence and I assure you, we are going to come out of this.”
He however said that despite the dissenting views on the issues of zoning, power rotation to the North or South in the PDP and their recent endorsement which was disagreed by Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, “there is no crack or any sign of crack in the PDP.”
He expressed optimism that the PDP will take over power in 2023 from the All Progressives Congress “that has failed to work for Nigeria and has betrayed the trust given to it,” and that is why people want the PDP back to power”.
“The choice of Saraki and I is for us to consult with other aspirants and come up with a candidate that will win the election for the PDP, a candidate that will rescue this country from the present maladministration we are experiencing. We have and we don’t see it as we being the best taken it as a responsibility but we are calling on others even those that didn’t make it in the consensus to come and join hands with us and our southern compatriots so that we will do it with minimal rancour”, he stressed.
According to him, “I, for one, I am offering myself with all humility, I know that I am not the best, the best might not have even bought the form, they might not have even stepped out but I am one of the best that has stepped out”.
Bala Mohammed concluded saying, “And this recognition by the Northern Elders establishment is giving me more impetus so that I will come out and criss-cross this country to look for delegates to emerge as the next presidential candidate and the president of Nigeria by the grace of God,”.
It will be recalled that Sule Lamido had, in a terse statement published in the media stated that the endorsement of former Senate President Bukola Saraki and Bala Mohammed by some Northern Elders as Northern consensus presidential aspirants is “injurious to the North and to other Northern presidential aspirants.”
