Bauchi’s endless war of political supremacy
From the look of things, the lingering feud between Governor Mohammed Abubakar and elected federal representatives from Bauchi State has no end in sight.
There has been no love lost between the governor and the federal lawmakers from Bauchi State since the APC won election in the state in 2015.
The feud has, however, taken another dimension recently as both sides opened new fronts to wage a political war against one another.
The genesis
The crisis started soon after the politicians, riding on the popularity of Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), collectively won elections.
Unfortunately, rather than working together, the major actors, for some obvious reasons, refused to consolidate their gains.
Eighteen months after, despite several efforts by the state and the national leaderships of the party to resolve the problems, the politicians, specifically the governor and his supporters on one and the team of legislators on the other, are increasingly opening new frontiers of misunderstanding.
However, while some of the lawmakers are fighting the battle behind the scenes, others like senators Ali Wakili, Isah Hammah and to a certain extent, Suleiman Nazif, are more vocal in expressing their opposition to the policies of Governor Abubakar.
A leading rep member in the fight is Ahmed Yarima, who hardly stays a week without picking a hole in what Governor Abubakar does.
Sources said the presence of Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who is also from Bauchi State and from the same senatorial district as the governor, is adding impetus to the legislators.
The lawmakers are specifically accusing the governor of failing to fulfil some of the campaign promises they collectively made to the electorate.
One of the promises they said the governor failed to fulfil, is the conduct of local government elections, that instead, he appointed caretaker committees.
Governor Abubakar saying however, justified his decision the state has no money to conduct local government elections, which he said will cost about N2 billion at a time of economic downturn.
Another issue that has lingered for a long time is the payment of salaries, which most of the governor's critics, including civil servants, hyped.
However, since the settlement of the outstanding salary arrears, the issue has died down even as the governor’s handlers are now accusing the legislators and their supporters of not celebrating the governor over the feat.
At the height of the cold war, an earlier attempt to recall the three senators from the National Assembly by a coalition within the APC, was interpreted as a clandestine attempt by Governor Abubakar and the party's leadership at the state level to get at the senators.
The coalition, led by one Aliyu Sa'idu, who was rejected by the Senate, some months ago, to be a member of the National Communications Commission (NCC) board, to represent the North East, accused senators Wakili, Hammah and Nazif of supporting the Senate President, Bukola Saraki “against the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari's candidate.”
The APC at the national level, however, tried to reconcile the senators and the governor’s group over the recall attempt.
But the issue later re-surfaced when another group petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking to kick-start the recall process.
Ironically, a different group went to the INEC office in Bauchi and countered, saying they were fully in support of their senators.
Thereafter, some stories emerged online with names of some politicians, who would purportedly replace the elected legislators in the event they were recalled.
The list also included some party executives, who were reportedly not in the good books of the state governor.
The move, according to sources, was to pave way for Governor Abubakar to have a smooth ride in 2019.
However, in an advertorial published in a national daily, the APC leadership and the governor denied anointing some politicians to replace members of the National Assembly.
They said the online report was allegedly planted by the same legislators trying to discredit the governor and the APC.
But instead of the crisis to disappear, fresh allegations emerged from the governor’s camp that the lawmakers, in cahoots with “other disgruntled elements within and outside the APC,” have already resolved to work against Governor Abubakar in 2019.
It was alleged by the governor’s camp that the lawmakers and their supporters elsewhere, have allegedly selected someone among them that would be supported to unseat the governor in 2019.
Another factor which is said to be aggravating the feud in Bauchi was the alleged involvement of some former APC aspirants who lost out in the party's primaries.
The former aspirants were said to be angered by Governor Abubakar's perceived “winner takes all” attitude, leaving nothing for them after the elections.
However, the governor's spokesperson, Comrade Sabo Mohammed, had in an earlier interview dismissed this insinuation, saying that the governor has been very magnanimous in working with people that are very close to all the other aspirants.
"I am a perfect example of Governor Abubakar's magnanimity and democratic principles. I was from the Dr. Yakubu Lame's camp, but he appointed me to serve him. Look around and you will find out that all the governor’s appointees have links in one way or another to all the other aspirants," he said.
Deep infighting
The party recently held an expanded exco meeting which had in attendance, almost all its exco and other prominent figures, including Governor Abubakar.
However, the absence of senators Wakili, Nazif and Hammah, as well as Speaker Dogara and other major actors involved in the feud left much to be desired.
Though some lawmakers had attended the meeting, the APC spokesperson in the state, Auwal Jalla, informed journalists that those who did not attend the meeting had sent their apologies.
But Senator Wakili, in an interview a few days later, said they received the invitation to the meeting very late.
He also said they had other important official engagements at the time.
The problem aggravated when the APC chairman in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, Mijinyawa Hardo, believed to be loyal to Governor Abubakar and the state leadership of the party, was removed by some officials loyal to Senator Wakili and Speaker Dogara.
The group accused him of sidelining members of the party as well as alleged anti-party activities.
In another twist, however, the APC leadership in Senator Wakili's Lere ward in Tafawa Balewa suspended him from the party.
The letter dated January 8, addressed to the local government party chairman, signed by Markus Silas, stated that Senator Wakili was suspended for committing offences inimical to the progress of the party.
However, the senator, in a statement by his senior legislative aide, Ladan Ahmad Gumau, alleged that the plan to suspend him was hatched by some officials of the party, with the support of the state government.
But the state leadership of the party later reiterated that the suspension was in order as the offences he allegedly committed were against the party’s constitution.
Also, the member in Bauchi State House of Assembly representing Lere/Bula constituency, Alhaji Aminu Tukur, was suspended by his Bununu ward APC executives in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area.
However, some APC members, led by Mr Ishaku Simon and Alhaji Korau Bununu, at a rally in Bununu, headquarters of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, dismissed the alleged suspension of Senator Wakili and the state lawmaker from the party.
They also said the people who allegedly suspended the two lawmakers “are enemies of APC and the people of the Tafawa Balewa,” saying they have written a letter to the state APC and the national headquarters of the party in Abuja.
For now, Bauchi South seems to be the battleground of the intra APC wrangling, as both the governor, Senator Wakili and Speaker Yakubu Dogara are all from the same district.
However, locals complaining that this is worry some, coming at a time when the politicians have not reached half of their tenures.