The Bauchi state governor Bala Mohammed, has lambasted the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government over the corruption allegation levelled against him and governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa state.
Recalled that the presidency, had in a statement urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to sack governor Fintiri and the Bauchi state governor over alleged corruption allegations against them before their elections.
But reacting in a statement signed by his media aide, Mukhtar Gaidado, and made available to newsmen on Friday, the governor urged Presidency officials to desist from using President Buhari’s name as an arsenal to “hit perceived political adversaries for their selfish goals.”
The governor further condemned the nomination of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo State.
“The Presidency has been boxed into a corner in the melodrama surrounding the curious emergence of Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a man who had been so irredeemably deconstructed by Adams Oshiomole, former chairman of the APC, that his electoral value has diminished to almost zero. It is perfectly understandable that the APC is in damage control mode, desperately clutching to every and any conceivable straw, in a doomed effort to rescue the sinking boat of its Edo gubernatorial ticket.
“Unlike Pastor Ize-Iyamu who is the candidate of the ruling APC, a party that professes the eradication of corruption as its mantra, as the unimpeachable cornerstone of its national revival programme; Bala Mohammed was the candidate of the opposition party, a man who was ready to subject his integrity to electoral scrutiny without passing through the same moral crucible as the candidate of the ruling party. The electorate believed him; set his prosecution and persecution aside; and got him elected, defeating an incumbent Governor.”
Sighting landmark victories by the governor against anti-graft agencies in the country, Mohammed urged the APC-led government to investigate “some highly placed leaders of the party are still holding strategic national positions while either facing trial or allegations of gross financial impropriety.
“Finally, we wish to remind the federal government that, at the onset of his ordeal in the hands of the EFCC, Bala Mohammed voluntarily submitted himself to trial in the firm belief that history will vindicate the just. Besides, he remains unequivocally supportive of the anti-corruption campaign of President Muhammadu Buhari, a trend that was started by the PDP-led Administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo with the proviso that there should be no sacred cows as appears to be the case presently, despite subterfuges to the contrary.
“It also goes without saying that the same federal government should lose no sleep over his case, trusting that, as in the past, he will willingly report to defend himself when it pleases God that his tenure as Governor should end. However, as one whose principle is not to step on a man who is already down, he regrets that Ibrahim Magu, the instrument being used by his traducers, is now tasting a dose of his own medicine. How true it is that, indeed, the world is, a stage. A word is enough for the wise.”
