I Did Not Sponsor Any Rally Against NASS Members in Bauchi – Gov. Mohammed Abubakar

Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi state has reacted to reports that he sponsored some youths under the aegis of Vanguard for Peace and Tranquility to protest against an alleged plot by the National Assembly members from Bauchi state as well as other Federal legislators, to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.

The governor described the allegations as diversionary, saying that he would not have sponsored campaigns against National Assembly members from the state he governs.

A statement issued by the governor’s Press Secretary, Abubakar al-Sadique read:

Our attention has been drawn to news story in a national daily of Saturday, July 23rd, reporting a purported rally staged by a group, “Youth Enlightenment Forum”, alleging that the Pro-Buhari, anti impeachment rally staged earlier in the week in Bauchi by “Vanguard for Peace and Tranquility”, calling on some members of the National Assembly from Bauchi state to desist from a surreptitious move said to have been made to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari was sponsored by Governor Mohammed Abubakar.

The said news story also quoted one Hon. Bala Bogoro, leader of the “Youth Enlightenment Forum” as telling journalists that his group staged the said rally to support “their senators and members of the House of Representatives” as a response to the one earlier staged in the week by the “Vanguard for Peace and Tranquility”,which the “Youth Enlightenment Forum” in their estimation was sponsored by Governor Mohammed Abubakar to “launder his image before President Muhammadu Buhari and implicate members of the National Assembly from the state to cover his failure in governance of the state”.

These allegations are too shallow because one wonders how can Governor Abubakar who secured the mandate of the people to superintend over the affairs of a whole State descend to so low to be sponsoring rallies against some members of the National Assembly from the same state he governs? It doesn’t add up. By the way, where was Governor Mohammed Abubakar when the said members of the National Assembly started nursing the idea of impeaching President Muhammadu Buhari? Or was the Governor responsible for reporting the plot that was said to have been hatched behind closed doors of the chambers of the National Assembly? If members of the Vanguard for Peace and Tranquility were sponsored to stage their rally to support “their senators and members of the House of Representatives”, what makes them think Governor Abubakar needs to sponsor anyone to “launder his image before President Muhammadu Buhari” as they alleged?

Does the fact that the protesters under the aegis of “Vanguard for Peace and Tranquility” staged a solidarity rally in his State and asked the Governor to forward a letter to the President the people massively elected on the same platform with him, and with whose goodwill many of such politicians rode to power qualifies the Governor to be an enemy to members of the National Assembly as claimed by the “Youth Enlightenment Forum”?

Governor Mohammed Abubakar is a believer in the ideals of democracy which guarantees the right to peacefully protest for or against anything that touches their interests. It is therefore not the business of His Excellency, Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar who stages what rallies in the State so long as such rallies are carried out within the legality of the law, but he owes it a duty to receive the protesters who tendered their grievances to President Buhari through Governor Abubakar about the conduct of those who represent them at the National Assembly. It must also be clearly stated that in a federation such as ours, there is clear demarcation between the work of a National Assembly legislature and that of a state governor.  

It is imperative, therefore, to warn the so-called “Youth Enlightenment Forum”, which obviously addressed the press on behalf of the said National Assembly members that are reportedly nursing the idea of impeaching President Muhammadu Buhari to desist from dragging the good name of Governor M. A. Abubakar into the dirty dealings of whoever their principals are. Bauchi people are too politically sophisticated to be deceived into believing that their Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, is behind the actions, inactions and dealings in the National Assembly, after he has never been mentioned as having sponsored the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly. 

His Excellency, Governor Mohammed Abubakar is a qualified constitutional lawyer who has good grasp of the law and a loyal party member whose major preoccupation at the moment is finding lasting solutions to the problems his administration inherited in Bauchi State, and not minding the conducts of legislators, especially those elected to represent people at the national assembly. If members of the so-called “Youth Enlightenment Forum” are as serious in defending their principals as they try to make the electorate believe, they should advise those who hired them to tell all those reported to have the funny thought of impeaching President Buhari to have a rethink, because attempting to do that will have consequences of unquantifiable magnitude for them and any one pushing them towards that political clip.