Bauchi state governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar
was elected by popular vote in the 2015 general elections.
He gave his closest opponent in the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) a wide margin. He achieved this feat even as a
candidate in the opposition party. Now that 2019 general
elections is around the corner, there is every indication
that he will repeat the feat and give his opponents higher
margin than before. This is because the people of Bauchi
have tested him and saw his achievements in the four years
he piloted the affairs of their dear state.
The path Abubakar trod
before becoming the governor had prepared him better than
all his opponents in the other political parties to serve
the people of Bauchi state in 2019. Unlike the other
political party candidates, one of the advantages Bauchi
people will enjoy is that Abubakar is not on the job
training.
He began his
career in the civil service where he rose through the ranks
to become the Bauchi state Attorney General and Commissioner
for Justice, a path that has sharpened his zeal and
efficiency for the service of his people.
Abubakar, a Law graduate
from ABU, Zaria, and Nigerian Law School, Lagos, was called
to bar after successful graduation.
On completion of his
national youth service, the young Abubakar joined the civil
service in the ministry of justice, Bauchi state. He rose
through the ranks to the position of Senior Parliamentary
Counsel and head of Legal Drafting Department of Bauchi
State House of Assembly in 1983. Here, his zeal to serve the
people was reinforced.
When the military struck in 1993, Abubakar went
into private practice as managing partner of Fortuna
Chambers, and later became chairman of Nigerian Bar
Association, Bauchi state chapter, from 1996 to 1998. He
was elected deputy national secretary of the Democratic
People’s Party (DPP) in 1997. He was appointed Resident
Electoral Commissioner (REC) and served in Kogi, Delta,
Plateau and Rivers states between 1999 and 2003.
In 2003, he was promoted
to National Electoral Commissioner, Legal Services and
Supervisor of Borno, Jigawa, and Yobe states. He retired
from INEC in 2008 and went back to his cherished legal
practice.
In June 2013
Abubakar was appointed a member of the National Judicial
Council (NJC).
When he
found that he had received enough tutelage, which would help
him to serve Bauchi people, he ran for the office of
governor of Bauchi state in 2015 under the platform of the
opposition All Progressives Congress. He won the election,
defeating the incumbent party’s candidate by over
370,000 votes and succeeded Isa Yuguda in May 29, 2015.
As governor, Abubakar has
impacted positively on his people, the development that
attracted a number of interest groups to his fold.
A group, the Congress of
Nigerian Eligible Voters, applauded the governor for his
various intervention programmes in the education sector
during a solidarity rally with the governor at Government
House, Bauchi.
Speaking
during the rally, leader of the congress, Comrade John Ngene
Offia said education programmes introduced by the governor
such as renovation of schools, mass employment of teachers,
provision of free feeding for primary school pupils,
provision of motorbikes to education supervisors as well as
the construction of residential quarters for teachers, were
worthy of commendation.
“We are aware that the free education
introduced by your administration is saving parents N2bn
annually. Likewise, the removal of hidden fees and levies in
schools has helped parents to enroll more children in school
than before.
“It is
in the light of the above enumerated achievements by His
Excellency, that all these people here today have come to
declare that you have performed creditably well and
consequently found you fit for second tenure as the
executive governor of Bauchi state in the 2019
governorship election,” he said.
Education is one of the
numerous sectors the governor’s administrative acumen and
political zeal has touched the people.
In the wake of his victory
as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) primaries in Bauchi state for the 2019
general elections, Abubakar told journalists in Bauchi
that in 2015, political analysts said he came from the
blues and conquered Bauchi State Government House. That
is not far from the truth because nobody saw him coming.
As a devout Muslim, he said Allah who gave him victory in
2015 as an opposition candidate, would again give him in
2019 as an incumbent. “People failed to realise the
kind of fight I had to put up in 2015. I had the sitting
national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in
power from Bauchi state. I had the minister of the Federal
Capital Territory from Bauchi state and I had the sitting
governor of PDP in Bauchi, yet I got the victory,”
Abubakar said.
Abubakar
a God-fearing statesman, has remained truthful to the oath
he had sworn to work for the good people of Bauchi to be
fair to all regardless of ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Because of his
philosophy of justice to all, Abubakar made sure that Bauchi
which was operating under difficult condition was able to
overcome its difficulties. For instance, the state wage
bill, a result of over bloated civil service that he
inherited has a total of 105,000 workers on the payroll. The
payroll is N5.7bn every month. But the state was able to
clear all salaries of its workers.
“For some months, we
would go to Abuja and were unable to get the amount needed
to pay salaries. Yet, for close to two years, non-payment of
salaries has been a thing of the past in Bauchi state.”
Because Abubakar has the
feeling of the people at heart, he is at peace with the
good people of Bauchi and all the traditional institutions.
In Azare, Abubakar’s impact is everywhere, in Jama’are, Itas-Gadau, Giade,
Toro, Dass, Ganjuwa and Bauchi, dividends of democracy are
all over the communities. Therefore, it is high time the
good people of Bauchi decided to stake their future with
progressive governor to take them to the next level.
Abubakar, a complete believer of the will of Allah, thanked Allah earnestly when
he was declared winner in the Bauchi APC primaries. He is a
public officer who is not given to tampering with the
peoples wish. Unlike other politicians who survived on the
power of incumbency, Abubakar was willingly given the
opportunity to serve again on the APC platform, because
Bauchi people knew what is good for them.
The people’s governor, a
quintessential gentleman, does not believe in the policy of
winner-takes-all. For that reason, he has given
appointments to many aides of his political opponents in his
government.
Also, after
the assumption of office by Abubakar state revenue improved
tremendously because he had given the new chairman of the
revenue board free the necessary tools hand to operate.
As a pragmatic governor,
he had challenged journalists to move around freely to any
part of Bauchi state and report his achievements or
otherwise, but most reports corroborated the dividends his
administration is bent on giving Bauchi people.
He has rehabilitated
primary schools and junior secondary schools in all local
government areas of the state and has provided potable water
in the local government areas of the state.
Knowing that health is
wealth, he has built 19 primary health care centres, each in
the 19 LGAs leaving only Bauchi LGA that has quite a
number of health facilities, as the state capital.
Abubakar, a man who
combines faith with hard work, said that APC would win the
2019 election despite rancour in the Bauchi APC following
the primaries.
“Politics is about disputes and settlement of
disputes. If you join politics and everywhere is quiet, then
you should be concerned that something is wrong somewhere.
We will disagree; we will find ways of agreeing. That is
what politics is about. But rancour or no rancour, what
gets you elected is what you succeeded in achieving for the
people.”
Abubakar, the people’s governor, has spoken.
Abdullahi writes from Bauchi
