By Sule Aliyu Bauçhi
Bauchi State Governor Bala Abdulkadir Muhammad has responded to recent criticisms from former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon.Yakubu Dogara
Senator Bala Muhammad labelled Dogara as a hypocrite and an opportunist known for betrayal, consistency and being unstable
In a press release signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Comrade Muktar Gidado, a copy of which was made available to journalists on Monday, Governor Muhammad accused Dogara of exploiting other people”s misfortune for his personal benefit.
The release, titled, “Dogara ‘s Opportunistic Diatribe and Hypocrisy”, explained that the former speaker has demonstrated his penchant to exploit others’ misfortune in his latest diatribe against the Bauchi State Governor.
“In a publication titled, “On Governor Bala Muhammad’s Latest Tirade and Truculent Buffoonery”, the former Speaker of the 8th House of Representatives threw all decorum to the winds by hurling unprovoked expletives at the Governor whose only crime was to have stated that the policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu were inflicting untold hardship on the people of Nigeria,” it stated.
“As usual, the opportunistic political turncoat left the substance of the current national discourse in an ignoble and unpretentious effort to ingratiate himself with a president who, but for providence, would have been a victim of Dogara’s legendary betrayal.
“All along, Dogara had been looking for an opportunity to retrace his step after abandoning Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate of his party in the 2023 presidential elections, for another candidate on the pretext that he was averse to a joint Muslim ticket.
“Unfortunately for the political conman called Dogara, it was common knowledge that his real reason was the loss of the vice presidential slot, which he had severally bragged was already in his kitty. So, what has changed? Or is he now at home with the ticket? Maybe after finding himself adrift due to his inconsistency and treachery.
“He must be taking the President for a ride. Or how else does one describe a character who plainly accuses the President of masterminding a miscarriage of justice through a subversion of the electoral process?
“Hear him: ‘… When Governor Bala Muhammad was in court after rigging himself into office and desperately needed BAT to save him, he was busy singing his praises to the highest heavens and telling the world how amazing PBAT was, not even minding the fact that he is the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum. Just months after PBAT saved him, he has turned around to describe the President as…’
Really? What is Dogara telling the public?
“To the best of our knowledge, the President is neither a judge nor an advocate.
“What we know and for which we will always commend the President is that there is indeed no evidence that he interfered with the judicial process either for his party or anyone else.
“For Dogara to now suggest that the President helped Governor Bala Muhammad to protect the landslide victory given to him by the Bauchi electorate is the height of political rascality, juvenile recklessness and unbridled indiscretion.
“His statement is a slur on the judiciary and the mindless vituperation of a self-seeking scoundrel who has little or no regard for the judiciary.
“But we can understand Dogara’s predicament, indeed desperation.
“Now a political orphan due to his inconsistency and betrayal of the ladder through which he secured uncommon political ascendancy, he sees his only way back as heaping hubris on a man whose political ascendancy was preceded by an illustrious career in the Federal Civil service where not only, did he acquire broad inter-ministerial exposure but indeed rose to the directorate cadre.
“We had thought that as a lawyer, Dogara would be less unintelligent than he has publicly displayed.
“While we understand the unwritten dictum that a lawyer could resort to insulting the opposition when confronted with an untenable situation, never did we realise that Dogara would be blinded to facts that are in the public domain, particularly the utterances and actions of two presidents produced by his party, sorry one of his parties, the All Progressive Congress (APC).
“Dogara’s claim of non-performance against Governor Bala Mohammed is laughable as it crumbles in the face of practical evidence of the Governor’s performance.
“The award of Best Governor of the Year 2022, in the provision of rural infrastructure presented to him by former President Muhammadu Buhari and the award of Governor of the Year 2024 in urban renewal presented to him by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ridicule the laughable claim by this jester with an over-bloated political relevance but who has been consigned to where he rightly belongs.
“To further buttress the falsity of Dogara’s allegation, here is an excerpt on Bala Muhammad from the speech of former President Muhammadu Buhari at the commissioning of the Bauchi Regional Water Scheme in May 2022: ‘I am happy that the Bauchi state Government has executed the project creditably.
“I am not surprised by this accomplishment because the state government personally pursued the project with vigour and determination through the allocation of resources and intervention to eliminate bottlenecks and challenges including even COVID-19 which affected the project extension as well as paying attention to details.
“This is what leaders from the country should emulate from the Governor of Bauchi State”.
The Governor of Bauchi State in May 2022 was Senator Bala Muhammad of the PDP. That was the person President Buhari of the APC had charged other leaders in the country to emulate. Does Dogara not understand simple English?
“To the extent of suggesting that the president had advocated emulating a failure? Or has his unprovoked and maniacal obsession with Bala Mohammed’s rising political profile pushed him to the point of infantile dementia,”
He also addressed Dogara’s past controversies, such as allegations of budget padding and the possession of looted property during the EndSARS protests.
He said that Dogara’s current attacks were attempts to distract from his own checkered political history.
He added that the state had prospered under his leadership, while Dogara’s reputation had suffered due to his inconsistency and betrayal.
Governor Muhammàd dismissed Dogara as a self-serving opportunist who lacked the vision to understand the broader implications of his initiatives, such as the development of Bauchi State’s infrastructure.