The governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed has revealed why the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, is sidelining him from the PDP presidential campaign activities.
According to The PUNCH , Mohammed alleged that Atiku threatened to ‘teach him a lesson’ for contesting against him (Atiku) in the party’s presidential primaries in May.
Bala was part of the presidential aspirants of the PDP who eventually lost out to Atiku, during the party’s primary election in May.
Mohammed, who was recently appointed vice-chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, stated this in a protest letter dated November 3, 2022 and bearing the reference number GH/OFF/09/V.I.
Regarding his position, he claimed that he was “excluded from the activities of the PCC.”
In the letter, addressed to the party chair, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, and signed by Mohammed, his deputy, Senator Baba Tela; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman; state Chairman of the PDP, Hamza Akuyam and 30 others, read in part, “I was deliberately sidelined from the reach-out campaign of the PCC in Kaduna, which interacted with major stakeholder groups and the northern political establishments such as the Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders’ Forum, Sadauna Foundation, Arewa Research and Development Progress, etcetera.”
He further claimed that he was targeted by some political gladiators who were allegedly sponsored “directly or indirectly by our party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.”
“While Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his political cohorts insist that I must be “punished” for contesting against him during the presidential primaries of our party. The self-acclaimed ‘kingmakers’ around the Waziri Adamawa want a pound of flesh from me because I have refused to capitulate to their unbridled sense of entitlement which is pregnant with selfishness and dictatorial tendencies.
“The last group of the “Bala Must Go” campaigners are those whose egos have been bruised by my continued political relevance, rising national profile and the groundswell of public acclamation that have trailed unprecedented developmental strides of the PDP-led administration in the state,” he stated.
