How I was stopped from running as governor - FCT Minister

FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, held a press conference in Bauchi where he bares his mind about political happenings in the state and the country at large. Excerpts:

Why did you change your plan to contest for Bauchi State gubernatorial election?

I want to express my appreciation to the people of Bauchi, especially our supporters, the Kauran Bauchi support group, who have been very supportive of me since I came into politics in 2007. They have sensitised, gone into nooks and crannies of Bauchi, calling on me to run for the governorship of Bauchi State which I had earlier answered. I want to thank my supporters with all sense of humility and appreciation but I will no longer be running not because somebody has emerged in PDP but I don’t have intention of going anywhere to contest for any office. I thank them for their support and assistance and again I call on them to continue to support the PDP from the presidency where my boss, my mentor, President Goodluck Jonathan, is running to the governor and down to the state Assembly . My politics is always to serve people, to make sure I add value, to make sure that I carry people along and, of course, the people can carry me along. I have no money, no resources to show appreciation to the kind of love that I have been shown by the people of Bauchi State, whatever position I find myself, I will continue to strive, make frantic effort to make sure I add value and identify with the aspiration of common man. I had over 1,000 support groups in Bauchi and all of them are identifiable. I know the groups will be disappointed because they genuinely wanted me to run. My sudden withdrawal is a long story, it is not everything in politics that is brought to public ears, if you are a politician like me who is the biggest beneficiary of the system, the biggest beneficiary of the people, the biggest beneficiary of the government and the PDP, there must be some very bitter pills that we can easily swallow without water. I wouldn’t want to divulge the reason behind my withdrawal in public but to say that I have taken it in good faith, I don’t want to blame anybody or any group, or any institution for it. Those who are behind it, they know and time will come when we will come and tell them that you stopped Kauran Bauchi from running and he accepted it in good faith because I believe it is not my time to run.

But how did you feel?

Of course, I felt bad but we will not say because one does not emerge then we will now scuttle everything that we have benefited from. Nobody in Bauchi has benefited more than me from the PDP and indeed I am not greater than all of you from Bauchi State and certainly you can see from my humble background and even from my time in opposition ANPP. I was given the opportunity to run and become a senator, I am the longest serving minister of FCT, one of the biggest portfolios of the federal government. I did not come here because I was looking for houses, land, cars, money to marry, for farms, no, I was coming to serve, I am saying it is time for me to serve after getting so much from the Nigerian people, the people of Bauchi who supported me at the time when I had nothing. I was just a director from the meteorological agency when I came and contested and won, people gave me their support but certainly as a politician I have never let them down, I have always been with them. So let those groups not feel bad, Kaura is here like a rock with them and I will continue to do whatsoever I was doing that made them to love me so that they can love the PDP. So they should make sure that they do me a favour again because this man who believes in me, who is coming from a different zone, and different geographical area, we hardly have anything in common, that is Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and he decided to give me FCT, as you know it is always a portfolio that

is reserved for somebody very very close to the President, close from the childhood. But because he is a Nigerian and he believes in Nigeria, he gave it to me and I am there for almost 5 years. So I am calling on my brothers to do me a favour, to make sure we reciprocate that good gesture that Mr. President has done. Because I did not run for primary election does not mean the end of the world, there is another time.

What do you think is the chances of PDP in Bauchi State, looking at the party’s candidate and criticisms from the public?

Certainly Bauchi is completely PDP, whatever anybody will say we are not in disarray. Whatever happens I am taking it in good faith because we are mature, there is time to make noise and the time to be loyal to the party, The party is solid, we have a leader at the national level and at the state and we are solidly behind them. Certainly, there are some ill feelings after the primary elections, not only in Bauchi. In fact, that of Bauchi is even better, I came with the chairman who conducted the primaries, Stella, and she did very well. She will answer any question thrown to her because I know she did a transparent primaries and certainly the chances of Bauchi with all of us coming together is going to be very bright and we are going to install the next governor by the grace of God because there are more problems in the opposition party than with the

PDP in Bauchi State. There is no problem that I foresee because all the people that came are people of proven integrity and they came here without any grudge against anybody. Let me tell you, I don’t like divulging information, but when they were coming the first people they met were the major stakeholders, myself and the national chairman, and none of us told them we have any candidate.

You are the longest serving minister in the FCT, what is the success story and the challenges so far?

This is not the time to answer this question, I will come and engage you shortly before I disembark because I have been there for the last 5 years and therefore it will take a lot of time, but you have seen what we have done in Abuja. We have improved the city, private sector, brought investment to the tune of 12bn dollars to Abuja, we are building so many legacy programmes like the centenary city, world trade centre, the Abuja town centre and we have one of the biggest shopping malls, housing programmes, so definitely we have done so much.

It was said that you were schemed out of the PDP contest by the powers that be, how true is this?

Yes, in politics there is always scheming. Another name of politics is scheming. But it is not that I was schemed out. It is just because there are issues that I said I didn’t want to divulge. To me, it is not about Bala or about Kauran Bauchi, it is about the people of Bauchi and, of course, the leadership of Bauchi. I am somebody that is very loyal. I know people see me as an advocate but certainly whenever I see things going the other way and can cause disaffection, distrust, suspicion, I don’t normally give in, but I don’t bear enmity against anybody. I don’t have any ill feeling against anybody. So I will not say I was schemed out but certainly there were some landmines that were put and I don’t want to enter the boobytrap and then cause disaffection, disarray and even loss of lives in Bauchi, I know how much the people of Bauchi love me. It is better and honourable for me to withdraw without any inducement from anybody so that the people could be safe and secure.

PDP once declared that your name is not on their register as a member in your ward and local government, have you normalised your membership?

If you remember, there was a time that I had a problem with the government of Bauchi and I know politics is very dynamic, you were all witnesses to the time I went to my local government and collected my card, I am a citizen of Nigeria and I was received by the national deputy chairman of the party at the instruction of the national chairman and I collected my card from the ward chairman of my ward. And of course, I have it here and that is what I have been using to register and do other things. But that was then, the situation has changed now, I have been reconnected with my umbilical cord in the party.